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U.S. stocks close higher as traders digest Powell's testimony

NEW YORK
2024-03-07 07:49

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NEW YORK, March 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday, as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said it would be appropriate to cut interest rates later this year, but officials want more evidence that inflation is slowing.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 75.86 points, or 0.20 percent, to 38,661.05. The S&P 500 added 26.11 points, or 0.51 percent, to 5,104.76. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 91.95 points, or 0.58 percent, to 16,031.54.

Nine of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with utilities and technology leading the gainers by going up 0.97 percent and 0.91 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, consumer discretionary and communication services led the laggards by dropping 0.39 percent and 0.17 percent, respectively.

Rate cuts won't be warranted until officials have "gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably" toward the central bank's 2 percent goal, Powell told the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday during the start of two days of testimony on Capitol Hill.

"We want to see a little bit more data so that we can become confident. We're not looking for better inflation readings than we've had. We're just looking for more of them," said Powell.

"His statements concerning a likely rate cut by the end of the year also helped investor sentiment, as they roughly align with the market's projections for a few rate cuts by year-end," said Jose Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers.

On Wednesday, CrowdStrike jumped by 10.76 percent after exceeding profit expectations and providing an optimistic forecast. Nvidia led the S&P 500 with a 3 percent increase, while Meta Platforms rebounded by 1.3 percent following a recent decline. New York Community Bancorp experienced volatile trading, climbing 9.3 percent after securing a 1 billion dollars lifeline from investors, including former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, amid challenges in commercial real estate.
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