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Stock market today: Tech leads market bounce as Powell soothes rate-cut nerves

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Tech stocks led the markets higher on Thursday as investors hunting for interest-rate clues shifted focus to the coming US jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose roughly 0.4%, coming off three losing days in a row for the blue-chip index. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) put on 0.7%, while contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) popped about 0.8%, with both gauges building on slight closing gains.

The market is shaking off stocks’ rough start to the second quarter after Chair Jerome Powell soothed concerns the Federal Reserve would lose its nerve for making rate cuts.

Recent signs of acceleration in the economy raised the odds of further rate hikes — a so-called “no landing.” By sticking to the same tune — that the Fed will cut rates this year, but will choose its moment given inflation’s bumpy path downward — Powell appears to have put the debate to rest for now.

Focus is now shifting to the March jobs report, due out Friday morning, a key economic input for the Fed’s data-dependent policy decision-making. By and large, experts don’t expect to see any sign of cracks in the strong US labor market story. Department of Labor data released on Thursday showed initial jobless claims rose by 9,000 to 221,000 last week, their highest level since January.

On the corporate front, Levi Strauss (LEVI) shares jumped 18% after the jeans maker boosted its full-year earnings forecasts. Meanwhile, BlackBerry’s (BB) US-listed stock popped as the Canadian company’s cybersecurity unit helped deliver a surprise quarterly profit.

Live7 updates

  • HubSpot shares rise on report Alphabet could buy company

    Shares of HubSpot (HUB), an online marketing software company, shot up more than 8% after a report from Reuters said Alphabet is mulling a $35 billion offer for HubSpot.

    Reuters reports the acquisition would be Alphabet’s largest ever. Shares of Alphabet were little changed after the report, maintaining their gains of about 2.5%

  • Trending tickers on Thursday

    Amazon (AMZN) stock led the Yahoo Finance trending tickers page as shares of the tech giant hit a 52-week high, rising more than 1% on the day. The move came one day after the company announced layoffs for several hundred employees in its cloud-computing business.

    Paramount Global (PARA) shares sank nearly 10%, after rallying double digits the day prior, amid reports the media company could be bought by Skydance Media.

    Levi Strauss (LEVI) gained more than 16% following the company’s latest earnings report on Wednesday night. The company’s revenue of $1.56 billion came in higher than Wall Street’s estimates for $1.55 billion.

  • Weekly jobless claims pick up but still consistent with a ‘healthy’ job market

    A busy week of labor market data rolled on Thursday morning with the latest reading on weekly jobless claims.

    Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 221,000 for the week ended March 30, according to new data from the Labor Department, slightly above the 210,000-212,000 range seen for most of March.

    Still, the number remains low, per economists, and reflects continued underlying strength in the labor market.

    “Initial jobless claims rose to the highest level since late January in the week ended March 30, but remain comfortably below a level that would signal a significant weakening in labor market conditions,” Oxford Economics lead US economist Nancy Vanden Houten wrote in note on Thursday.

    She added: “The claims data and other labor market indicators are consistent with a job market that is still quite healthy.”

  • Ford stock pops on delay of all-electric SUV, expands hybrid offerings

    Ford (F) shares jumped almost 2% after the automaker said it is “retiming” the launch of upcoming electric SUV to 2027 as it allows the EV market to mature.

    The company also stated it’s expanding its hybrid electric vehicle offerings. Ford said it plans to offer hybrid across its entire lineup by the end of the decade.

    Legacy automakers have been scaling back their EV rollouts recently amid signs of an EV growth slowdown. Meanwhile an uptick in hybrid sales has prompted manufacturers to expand offerings of those types of vehicles.

  • Meta hits new high, helps lead Nasdaq higher

    Meta (META) shares gained more than 2% to hit a new high of $523.85 during Thursday’s session.

    The stock is up 47% year-to-date as the second best performer out of the ‘Magnificent 7‘, behind Nvidia (NVDA).

    Shares of the social media giant were helping lift the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) on Thursday, the biggest gainer out of the major averages.

     

  • Tech stocks lead markets higher

    Stocks opened higher on Thursday with tech stocks leading the gains after a rough start to the second quarter.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose about 0.7%, coming off three losing days in a row for the blue-chip index.

    The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) popped about 0.9%, after both gauges made slight gains in the previous session.

    The S&P 500 Technology Sector ETF (XLK) gained roughly 1% at the open. Equities related to Real Estate (XRE) and Consumer Discretionary (XLY) also rose.

    On Wednesday Fed Chair Jerome Powell said central bank officials expect to lower interest rates at “some point” this year.

  • Citi making some good points on General Motors

    One of the most under-the-radar stock moves of 2024 has been General Motors (GM).

    Shares are up 25% year to date, out-performing Ford’s (F) 12% advance and the 9% gain for the S&P 500. The move, in this writer’s humble view, has been fueled by better execution at GM around the EV transition and a new desire to return cash to shareholders.

    Wall Street may be finally getting into gear on the stock after years of disbelief.

    “With Q1 wrapping up, it’s become clearer that GM is likely to post another resilient quarter. While industry headwinds and execution risks persist, the now five plus year running pushback that GM’s latest strong quarter/year will be its last is increasingly looking stale,” said Citi analyst Itay Michaeli in a client note this morning.

    Michaeli adds the “comeback” for GM is well underway, and sees the stock as one of his top picks.

    I came away impressed after spending the day touring an EV facility in Detroit with GM chair and CEO Mary Barra (video below).

    The company is working on a lot of hard stuff that takes precision execution to profitably pull off. Considering that organized chaos, it’s a positive that GM is still a nicely profitable automaker and is out there buying back stock with its excess cash.

    It may be time to get GM’s stock out of the single-digit PE multiple range it has been stuck in for eons.

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