The S&P 500 closed 1.06% higher on Thursday after Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller signaled he could support holding rates steady. The Dow and Nasdaq also posted gains above 1%, with Nvidia, Snowflake, and crypto-linked stocks among the session's biggest movers.
The S&P 500 gained 81.11 points, or 1.06%, to close at 7,747.71 on Thursday. All three major U.S. indexes closed at least 1% higher, with the Nasdaq getting a lift from megacap AI stocks.
Waller remarks cool rate-hike bets
Fed Governor Christopher Waller told Reuters he would be inclined to let the key interest rate stand if upcoming data confirms that price pressures are easing, though he would back a hike if inflation fails to cool. Following the remarks, markets lowered the odds of a September rate hike to 50.4% from 63.2% a day earlier, according to CME's FedWatch tool.
According to Reuters: "Commentary from Fed Governor Waller (is) providing a broad lift for markets writ large," said Bill Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
Dow and Nasdaq post broad gains
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 624.16 points, or 1.18%, to 53,686.11, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 366.23 points, or 1.40%, to 26,584.06. Nvidia rose 1.8% after agreeing to buy developer platform Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, while Broadcom dropped 2.7% on a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue forecast.
A day earlier: Dell's earnings lift markets
On Wednesday, the Dow closed at 53,061.95, up 295.07 points, or 0.56%, and the S&P 500 settled at 7,666.60, a gain of 35.13 points, or 0.46%, snapping a three-session losing streak. The Nasdaq added 118.05 points to finish at 26,217.83, up 0.45%. Dell Technologies' stock surged nearly 16% on raised full-year revenue guidance.
Nvidia climbed more than 3% in that same session.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.98-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, with 284 stocks touching new highs.
Sources: Economy News (Investing.com), Crypto Briefing
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