US markets settle higher on Wednesday

01 Aug 2024 Evaluate

The US markets settled higher on Wednesday following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. While the Fed left interest rates unchanged, as widely expected, minor changes to the accompanying statement may hint at future rate cuts. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that a rate cut in September would be on the table if economic data continues on its current path. The central bank's next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for September 17-18, when investors widely expected the Fed to begin lowering interest rates. According to private report, there is currently a 93.5 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point in September.

The early rally on Markets partly reflected a positive reaction to some of the latest corporate earnings news from companies like Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Shares of AMD surged by 4.4 percent after the chipmaker reported second quarter results that exceeded street estimates on both the top and bottom lines. On the sectoral front, Considerable strength was visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 3.4 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Gold stocks also rallied amid a sharp increase by the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 2.8 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 99.46 points or 0.24 percent to 40,842.79, Nasdaq surged 451.98 points or 2.64 percent to 17,599.4 and S&P 500 was up by 85.86 points or 1.58 percent to 5,522.3.  


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