The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose Thursday, extending Wall Street’s rally in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, as traders weighed the latest rate cut from the Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 gained 0.74 per cent to close at a record high of 5,973.10. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.51 per cent to reach 19,269.46 — its first close above 19,000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed, ticking down less than one point to 43,729.34. All three indexes hit intraday record highs during the session.
The moves built on a surge in stocks Wednesday after Trump’s win, which included a 1,500-point gain for the Dow. The S&P 500 jumped 2.53 per cent for its best post-election day in history.
The bond market has also been volatile since the election, with Treasury yields falling Thursday after spiking in the previous session.
Those big swings were the backdrop for the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut Thursday afternoon. The central bank’s quarter-point cut was widely expected, but the move was smaller than September’s half-point reduction.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was “feeling good” about the state of the economy, and the Fed seems likely to stick to the small moves going forward.
Eight out of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed in the green, with Communications Services being the best performer, gaining 1.92 per cent. Financials were the worst, falling 1.62 per cent.
Big Tech stocks moved higher on Thursday to bolster the market, with Apple and Nvidia gaining 2.1 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively. Meta Platforms rose 3.4 per cent.
Financial stocks, which surged on Wednesday, gave back some of those gains on Thursday. Shares of JPMorgan Chase fell 4.3 per cent and American Express dipped 2.8 per cent, weighing on the Dow.
Warner Bros. Discovery shares jumped 11.8 per cent after the company reported third-quarter earnings that reflected its biggest quarterly subscription growth since inception. Warner Bros. Discovery added 7.2 million global subscribers during the quarterly period and had 110.5 million subscribers as of Sept. 30.
AppLovin shares skyrocketed 46 per cent after its third-quarter results beat analysts’ expectations. AppLovin also guided its fourth-quarter EBITDA of $740 million to $760 million, higher than the $667 million StreetAccount forecast.
Futures
The SPI futures are pointing to a 1.2 per cent gain.
Currency
One Australian dollar at 8.30am was buying 66.78 US cents.
Commodities
Gold has added 1.36 per cent. Silver has gained 2.44 per cent. Copper has jumped 4.56 per cent. Oil has added 0.46 per cent.
Figures around the globe
European markets closed mixed. London’s FTSE lost 0.32 per cent, Frankfurt gained 1.70 per cent, and Paris closed 0.76 per cent higher.
Turning to Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.25 per cent , while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 2.02 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite jumped 2.57 per cent.
Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.33 per cent higher at 8226.
Ex-Dividend
Acorn Capital Investment Fund (ASX:ACQ) is paying 2.75 cents 50 per cent franked
Dividends payable
Washington H Soul Pattinson & Co Ltd (ASX:SOL)
Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, CNBC, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap, Marketech.
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