Hi, dear traders! Investors are braced for yet another volatile session today. The Federal Reserve cheered up Wall Street. Having digested dovish notes in Powell’s speech, investors are anticipating corporate reports by high-tech giants such as Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet. They commonly act as equally strong market catalysts as the US Fed. Now let’s discuss the details!

Yesterday, the Federal Reserve was ruling market sentiment. To the joy of risky assets, Powell did not spook investors and the benchmark indices reinforced their gains.The Dow Jones closed yesterday with the smallest growth. The index inched up 6 points or 0.02%. The Nasdaq was overwhelmed by optimism and closed 2% up. The S&P 500 rose by 1.05% to close at 4,119, the upper border of the expected range.
The major stock indices traded mixed in the New York pre-market. The Dow Jones was the only index to turn lower. The S&P 500 grew by 0.6% and the Nasdaq climbed by 1.6% respectively. The S&P 500 is expected to trade in the intraday corridor between 4,080 and 4,200.
Immediately after the Fed’s rate hike, the stock indices lost their footing. The regulator stated that regular rate hikes would be appropriate. Later on, the indices rebounded from their intraday lows and rallied during Powell’s press conference.
Investors welcomed Powell’s remarks about the moderation in monetary tightening in recent months. The Chairman advocates for the increase in the ultimate funds rate by another 25 basis points to the level slightly below 4.9% by May. Afterwards, interest rates could be lowered by 40 basis points by December.
However, he did not dampen optimistic investors’ stance on disinflation and said that the central bank considers options for a few rate hikes. Powell had the opportunity to send a hawkish message but he did not. Instead, he said that the regulator has already been too aggressive.

All in all, Powell’s comments inspired stock investors and the S&P 500 closed at the highest level since August 25. Besides, the Nasdaq recorded the strongest closing level since September.

From the 11 sectors in the S&P 500, only the energy stocks closed with a 1.9% decline. At the same time, the high-tech stocks sensitive to interest rates logged the biggest gains, having jumped by 2.3%.

Futures for shares continued their advance on early Thursday, propelled by a 20% rally of Meta shares. It happened because the corporate report revealed the company’s tighter control over spending and announced a 40 billion-dollar stock buyback.

After the opening bell, investors are alert to financial reports by top high-tech companies such as Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet. Their stocks added 1-3% in the pre-market.

Apart from corporate reports, investors closely watch the labor market. The US Fed assesses the efficiency of its monetary tightening through employment changes. Sluggish hiring in the private sector encouraged Wall Street and fueled speculations that the tense labor market is cooling down.

Meanwhile, investors are disappointed about a weekly update on unemployment claims.
Defying the consensus, the number of first-time jobless claims declined deeper to 183,000 last week from 186,000. The indicator strongly undershot the forecast of 200,000 claims. Today it could dent growing optimism about risky assets.


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00:00 INTRO
00:47 S&P500
01:37 USA
02:57 QUOTES
04:17 US INITIAL UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS
04:52 USDX
06:18 USD | CAD
06:35 OIL
07:29 BTC | USD