US markets settle higher on Tuesday

07 Feb 2024 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Tuesday as investors scrutinized a mixed bag of earnings at big US companies and digested comments from Federal Reserve policy makers for clues about its first planned interest-rate cut. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said the central bank is not done yet with inflation although he noted it had come down quickly with three-month and six-month inflation data basically at the Fed's 2 per cent goal. Also, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said that if the US economy performs as she expects this could open the door to rate cuts. However, Mester said she was not ready yet to suggest timing for easier policy due to inflation uncertainty. Meanwhile, a lack of major U.S. economic data also kept some traders on the sidelines following several key events last week. 

On the sectoral front, while most of the major sectors showed only modest moves on the day, airline stocks showed a substantial move back to the upside. Reflecting the strength in the sector, the NYSE Arca Airline Index soared by 5.3 percent after plunging by 2.9 percent on Monday. Considerable strength was also visible among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 2.0 percent jump by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The strength in the sector came amid an increase by the price of crude oil. Among individual stocks, shares of Palantir Technologies (PLTR) skyrocketed by 30.8 percent after It reported better than expected fourth quarter revenues amid strong demand for its artificial intelligence offerings.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 141.24 points or 0.37 percent to 38,521.36, Nasdaq added 11.32 points or 0.07 percent to 15,609 and S&P 500 edged up 11.42 points or 0.23 percent to 4,954.23.


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