Wall Street hadn't really formed an opinion after Jerome Powell's speech, and it took another 24 hours for a 'feeling' to emerge, and that was that the overall message was a little more 'dovish' than might have been feared.

The Dow Jones thus gained more than 0.8% to 38,226, the S&P500 advanced 0.9% to 5,064 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.5% to 15,841, boosted by Moderna +12.7%, Qualcomm +9.7%, Regeneron +4.3%, Nvidia, Amazon +4.5% and Amazon +4.3%.841, boosted by Moderna +12.7%, Qualcomm +9.7%, Regeneron +4.3%, Nvidia, Amazon +3.2% and Apple +2.2%.

The latter stock climbed 8% after the close, following the publication of better-than-expected EPS and revenues (the drop in iPhone sales in China having been offset by a rise in services revenues).

A sign of confidence ahead of the publication of the 'NFP', the monthly employment report. The Fed boss - who must already have some idea of the April figures - said that job creation was still plentiful, with GDP rising "rapidly" at the same time.

But he reassured his listeners a little on Wednesday evening by insinuating that the Fed's next move will 'probably not' be a rate hike (13% of traders thought there might be no rate cut this year, but a hike in January 2025 if inflation picks up).

Even if Jerome Powell believes that the central bank's objectives are on track, but a little behind schedule on the inflation front, investors need to take on board the fact that the outlook has changed significantly in four months, with expectations revised to a single easing that may not take place until the very end of the year.

Uncertainty over the monetary easing agenda froze US bond yields at the previous day's levels until late afternoon... then eased sharply towards the end of the day, with the '10 yr' erasing -3.5 basis points to 4.59%.

On the macroeconomic data front, US non-farm productivity rose at an annualized rate of 0.3% in Q1 2024, but non-farm unit labor costs climbed 4.7%... enough to upset the markets, but they want to see the glass as half full.

In addition, the US trade deficit remained virtually stable at $69.4 billion in March, compared with $69.5 billion the previous month, while industrial orders rose by 1.6% (after a 1.2% increase in February).

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