Stocks have moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday, regaining ground following the weakness seen in the previous session. The major averages have all moved to the upside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the charge.
Currently, the Nasdaq is just off its highs of the session, up 336.75 points or 1.7 percent at 19,678.59. The S&P 500 is also up 46.86 points or 0.8 percent at 6,059.14, while the narrower Dow is up 112.19 points or 0.3 percent at 44,825.77.
The strength on Wall Street comes as some traders look to pick up technology stocks at somewhat reduced levels following the sell-off seen in the sector during Monday’s trading.
Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) are surging by 6.5 percent after the AI darling and market leader plunged by 17.0 percent in yesterday’s session.
Buying interest remains somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.
The Fed is almost universally expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.
Recent economic data has led to concerns about the Fed leaving rates on hold for a prolonged period, but many economists still expect the central bank to resume cutting rates sometime in the first half of the year.
CME Group’s FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 74.5 percent chance rates will be lower by at least a quarter point following the Fed’s June meeting.
In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Commerce Department unexpectedly showed a steep drop by new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the month of December amid a nosedive by orders for transportation equipment.
The Commerce Department said durable goods orders plunged by 2.2 percent in December after tumbling by a revised 2.0 percent in November.
Economists had expected durable goods orders to climb by 0.8 percent compared to the 1.2 percent slump that had been reported for the previous month.
However, excluding the steep drop by orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders rose by 0.3 percent in December after edging down by 0.2 percent in November. Ex-transportation orders were expected to increase by 0.4 percent.
The Conference Board also released a report showing its U.S. consumer confidence index decreased from a notably upwardly revised level in January.
The report said the consumer confidence index slid to 104.1 in January from an upwardly revised 109.5 in December.
Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to climb to 106.3 from the 104.7 originally reported for the previous month.
Sector News
Software stocks are turning in some of the market’s best performances on the day, resulting in a 2.9 percent surge by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index.
Notable strength is also visible among brokerage stocks, as reflected by the 1.0 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index.
On the other hand, airline stocks have shown a significant move to the upside, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 2.9 percent.
Computer hardware, utilities and housing stocks are also seeing considerable weakness, limiting the upside for the broader markets.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower, with several major markets closed for holidays. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.4 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have turned mixed on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.7 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have moved to the downside as traders look ahead to the Fed announcement on Wednesday. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 4.7 basis points at 4.575 percent.
Business News
Tech-Heavy Nasdaq Showing Strong Move Back To The Upside
2025-01-28 17:27:41
