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Updated 2 days ago
By
Isabel Wang
U.S. stocks finished higher on Tuesday as technology shares powered a rebound in the broader market that propelled the Nasdaq Composite to its best day in nearly three weeks.
The Dow rose 126.13 points, or 0.3%, to end at 42,080.37 at 4 p.m. Eastern time, according to FactSet data.
The S&P 500 popped 55.19 points, or nearly 1%, ending at 5,751.13. The large-cap benchmark index scored its largest one-day point and percentage gain since Sept. 19, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
The Nasdaq surged 259.01 points, or 1.5%, to finish at 18,182.92. The tech-heavy index also booked its best day since Sept. 19.
2 days ago
By
Greg Robb
The impact of hurricane season could impact the economy for more than six months, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said, on Tuesday.
Hurricane Helene has created tremendous devastation and a lot of hardship, Bostic said, adding he was hopeful that Hurricane Milton would not create "the same sort of carnage."
The two storms will have significant implications for how the economy is going to perform, he said.
The Fed will have its hands full trying to understand what as happened and how things are going to evolve over the next three to six months and "actually it could be even longer than that," he said.
By
Vivien Lou Chen
Long-term U.S. government debt sold off further on Tuesday, pushing 10- and 30-year yields to their highest closing levels in more than two months for a second straight day.
The 10-year yield finished at 4.034% and the 30-year closed at 4.323%, the highest levels since July 31. The advance in those yields came as market participants looked ahead to Thursday's release of the September consumer-price index for any signs that inflation might be on the rebound.
“While we expect that inflation will eventually reach the Fed’s target by early 2025, we could still see some clear-air turbulence,'' said BeiChen Lin, an investment strategist at Russell Investments. "Markets are already expecting inflation rates to have basically held steady in September, instead of cooling from August. And the possibility of an upside surprise in any given month can never be fully ruled out.”
2 days ago
By
Myra P. Saefong
Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall Wednesday evening and with evacuations in fuel swing, that's led to shortages at nearly 16% of the gasoline stations in Florida, according to GasBuddy.
Fuel shortages were seen at 15.79% of the state’s gas stations, or 7,912 stations, as of 11:10 am Eastern time Tuesday, according to GasBuddy, a source for real-time fuel prices at gas stations in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
“The biggest issue right now is availability of gasoline and the logistics,” said Denton Cinquegrana, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), a subsidiary of MarketWatch publisher Dow Jones.
The region was still dealing with the impact of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall on the Florida Gulf Coast on Sept. 26, he said. All the ports, such as Tampa, Fort Meyers, Manatee, St. Petersburg have all closed, he said. “So no more deliveries of fuel can be made.”
2 days ago
By
Myra P. Saefong
Oil futures settled lower on Tuesday for the first time in six sessions after the militant group Hezbollah reportedly said it supported efforts by Lebanon for a cease-fire deal with Israel, helping to ease tensions in the oil-rich Middle East.
Traders also showed disappointment over a lack of new economic stimulus measures from China following that country’s return to business from a national holiday.
West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery fell $3.57, or 4.6%, to settle at $73.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It more than erased Monday's 3.7% gain. December Brent crude fell $3.75, or 4.6%, to end at $77.18 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
In a monthly report released Tuesday, the Energy Information Administration cut its 2024 forecast for WTI oil prices by 2.4%, to $76.91, and its 2025 forecast by 8.2%, to $73.13, and also said U.S. household heating-fuel bills will likely be little changed this winter.
2 days ago
By
Isabel Wang
After worries that the U.S. economy may end up in a recession or a so-called hard landing, the financial-market debate has recently shifted to the potential of a "no landing" outcome, sparked by a blockbuster September jobs report.
On Tuesday, U.S. stocks were attempting to rebound from sharp declines in the previous session. Shares of megacap technology names were leading the broader market higher, which suggests investors were bracing for a "no landing" scenario by flocking to "quality growth stocks," said Doug Fincher, portfolio manager at Ionic Capital Management.
The AI space is a good example of areas of the market that have been performing well and could provide "good, stable growth that investors can depend on," Fincher told MarketWatch in a phone interview on Tuesday.
Under a "no landing" scenario, the economy continues to grow and inflation remains above trend. The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow forecasting model on Tuesday was expecting 3.2% real GDP growth for the third quarter of 2024, up from 2.5% a week ago.
2 days ago
By
Christine Idzelis
Small-cap stocks were edging up Tuesday afternoon, attempting to rebound from Monday’s decline.
The Russell 2000 index, a gauge of U.S. small-cap stocks, was rising 0.2% in late-afternoon trade, according to FactSet data, at last check. The index fell 0.9% Monday, leaving it still down so far this week.
2 days ago
By
Tomi Kilgore
The Nasdaq Composite was rallying 1.3% in recent trading and the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 was also climbing 1.3%, with both headed for their best days since Sept. 19.
But a look at market breadth tells a different story.
There number of stocks on the Nasdaq exchange that are gaining ground is outnumbering decliners by just 41 stocks, 1,982 to 1,941.
And volume is advancing stocks makes up only 52.2% of total volume.
On the NYSE, advancers are leading by a little better 1,390 to 1,307, but advancing volume is just 43.4% of total volume.
2 days ago
By
Isabel Wang
and
Joseph Adinolfi
Recent market volatility amid escalating Middle East tensions has put inflation front and center again for the U.S. stock market this week as investors awaited the release of the September consumer-price-index report on Thursday morning.
While stocks should be able to withstand a slight upside surprise in inflation given improving macro economic data, "a sizeable surprise" in CPI could bring uncertainty of the Federal Reserve's easing cycle and more volatility into the market, according to BofA Global Research.
"Following the blowout jobs report last Friday, we believe the importance of CPI this week has risen," a team of strategists led by Ohsung Kwon, equity and quant strategist at BofA Global, wrote in a Monday note.
In fact, the options market on Tuesday is pricing in a 90-basis-point move on the S&P 500 this Thursday, which is "significant," Matt Amberson, principal and founder of Option Research & Technology Services, told MarketWatch.
Meanwhile, the recent jump in Wall Street's "fear gauge," or VIX, also implied stock moves around CPI "could be larger than before with the S&P 500 dancing along at the highest levels and credit spreads at a two year low," said Doug Fincher, portfolio manager at Ionic Capital Management.
"There's a lot of optimism that is priced into the market, so that could be impacted if we see a hot number on Thursday," he told MarketWatch in a phone interview.
2 days ago
By
James Rogers
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. continued their rally Tuesday, gaining 17.2% in afternoon trading after ending Monday’s session up 11.5%.
The stock has been rallying following an appearance by Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk alongside former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday.
DJT shares, which are trading around $21.56, are on pace for their highest close since Aug. 23, 2024, when they ended at $22.81, Dow Jones Market Data show.