US markets settle higher on optimism about global stimulus

17 Aug 2019 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Friday with gains of over a percent each, amid optimism about the world's central banks providing aggressive stimulus in order to prevent a global recession. European Central Bank official Olli Rehn helped inspire confidence after expressing the need for a significant easing package in September to support the flagging eurozone economy. The expectations for more stimulus contributed to a pullback by US treasuries and a subsequent increase in bond yields. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note dropped below the two-year yield on Wednesday, sparking fears of an impending recession and a sell-off on Wall Street.

Meanwhile, traders overlooked a report from the University of Michigan showing a significant deterioration in US consumer sentiment in August. The report said the consumer sentiment index tumbled to 92.1 in August after inching up to 98.4 in July. Street had expected the index to dip to 97.2. With the much steeper than expected drop, the consumer sentiment index slumped to its lowest level since hitting 91.2 in January. The deterioration in consumer sentiment came amid concerns about the proposed increase in tariffs on Chinese imports as well as the reasoning behind the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut. A separate report from the Commerce Department showed an unexpected slump in housing starts in July but a sharper than expected increase in building permits. The report said housing starts tumbled by 4.0 percent to an annual rate of 1.191 million from the revised June estimate of 1.241 million.

Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 306.62 points or 1.20 percent to 25886.01, Nasdaq surged 129.38 points or 1.67 percent to 7895.99 and S&P 500 was up by 41.08 points or 1.44 percent to 2888.68.

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