On Wall Street Thursday, there was a surge in risk appetite among investors following the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s cautious remarks. Traders flocked to tech stocks and bonds, with expectations growing that the Fed may lower interest rates as early as June 2024. Treasury yields declined, with 30-year maturities down by 10 basis points and 10-year maturities down by 6 basis points. The rally was widespread, with all S&P 500 sectors posting gains.
Investors are now focusing on Apple, Inc., which is set to release its fourth-quarter earnings report at the end of the trading day.
In terms of Thursday’s trading, the S&P 500 rallied 1.6%, which is its largest one-day increase since early May. The Nasdaq 100 also surged 1.5%, marking its fifth straight session of gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3%, while small caps in the Russell 2000 rallied 1.7%.
The major US equity ETFs also saw positive performance, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust up 1.6%, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF up 1.3%, and the Invesco QQQ Trust up 1.6%.
Among the S&P 500 sector ETFs, the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund saw the largest gains at 3.5%, followed by discretionary at 2.4% and energy at 2.3%. The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund was the underperformer but still saw a solid 1% surge.
Some individual stocks also saw significant movements based on earnings. Roku, Inc. surged 30% following the release of its quarterly results. Other notable movers included Fastly, Inc. (up 16%), Etsy, Inc. (up 2.3%), The Clorox Company (up nearly 8%), Lemonade, Inc. (up 37%), PayPal Holdings, Inc. (up 6%), Qualcomm, Inc. (up 6%), Starbucks Corporation (up over 10%), and Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. (down 23%).
After the close, companies such as Apple, Block, Inc., DraftKings Inc., Dropbox, Inc., Expedia Group, Inc., Fortinet, Inc., Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., Palantir Technologies Inc., and Skyworks Solutions, Inc. will be releasing their earnings reports.
In other markets, crude oil rose 1.5%, while treasury yields were lower. The dollar fell, and European equity indices had a positive session. Gold remained flat, silver fell 0.8%, and Bitcoin was 2.3% lower.
