US markets settle higher on Wednesday

16 Jan 2025 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday with Nasdaq settling higher by over 450 points. The rally on markets reflected a positive reaction to the Labor Department's closely watched report on consumer price inflation in the month of December. While the report showed consumer prices rose by slightly more than expected in December, the annual rate of core consumer price growth unexpectedly slowed. The Labor Department said its consumer price index climbed by 0.4 percent in December after rising by 0.3 percent in November. Street had expected consumer prices to rise by another 0.3 percent. The report also said the annual rate of growth by consumer prices accelerated to 2.9 percent in December from 2.7 percent in November, in line with street estimates. The annual rate of growth by core consumer prices slowed to 3.2 percent in December from 3.3 percent in November, while Street had expected yearly growth to remain unchanged.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to upbeat earnings news from financial giants JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. On the sectoral front, financial stocks moved sharply higher in reaction to the upbeat earnings news, with the KBW Bank Index and the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index spiking by 4.1 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively. Substantial strength was also visible among interest rate-sensitive housing stocks, resulting in a 2.3 percent surge by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. Computer hardware, semiconductor and software stocks also saw considerable strength, contributing to the strong upward move by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 703.27 points or 1.65 percent to 43,221.55, Nasdaq rose 466.84 points or 2.45 percent to 19,511.23 and S&P 500 was up by 107 points or 1.83 percent to 5,949.91. 
 


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