US markets end higher on Wednesday

22 Aug 2024 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve released the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting, which seemingly provided additional support for expectations of an interest rate cut in September. The minutes of the Fed's late July meeting revealed that the vast majority of participants believed it would likely be appropriate to lower rates at the next meeting if inflation data continued to come in about as expected. Reports released by the Labor Department last week showed the annual rates of consumer and producer price growth slowed in line or slightly more than economists had forecast in July. On the heels of the minutes, the Fed is widely seen as likely to lower interest rates next month, with CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicating a 61.5 percent of a quarter point rate cut next month and a 38.5 percent chance of a half point rate cut.

Fed officials unanimously agreed to leave interest rates unchanged at the meeting, although the minutes noted several participants observed that the progress on inflation and increases in the unemployment rate had provided a plausible case for reducing the target range by 25 basis points at the July meeting. On the sectoral front, housing stocks saw substantial strength on the day amid optimism about lower interest rates, resulting in a 2.7 percent surge by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. Semiconductor, retail and computer hardware stocks also saw notable strength on the day, while networking stocks gave back ground after moving sharply higher in recent sessions.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 55.52 points or 0.14 percent to 40,890.49, Nasdaq surged 102.05 points or 0.57 percent to 17,918.99 and S&P 500 was up by 23.73 points or 0.42 percent to 5,620.85.  


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