Stocks closed higher on
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Stocks are rising Monday, as
The wave of buying lost some momentum toward the afternoon. Even so, the S&P 500 was 0.9% higher, led by tech companies in a widespread rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 162 points, or 0.5%, at 33,536, as of
Markets have been churning for weeks with sharp swings in both directions. On one hand, they’ve benefited from hopes that the nation’s high inflation will continue to cool and get the
Monday's gains follow a strong Friday, when stocks rallied on comments from a Fed official seen as a signal that the central bank may raise rates by just 0.25 percentage points next week. That would be a downshift from last month's 0.50 point increase and from four straight earlier hikes of 0.75 points.
Higher rates intentionally slow the economy by making it more expensive for businesses and households to borrow, so a step down would mean less added pressure.
The bigger question is how much further the Fed goes from there, and how long it will wait before it cuts interest rates. Such cuts can act like steroids for markets, and
The yield on the two-year
This year’s rally so far, with the S&P 500 up more than 4% in January already, is largely a result of how deeply pessimistic
“Have we had great news? No,” Detrick said. “But most of the inflation data is improving more than most people expected, which is opening the door for the Fed to take its foot off the pedal” and take it easier on rates.
More recently, concerns have also been rising on
This upcoming week will see more than seven dozen companies in the S&P 500 report their results for the last three months of 2022, including some of the most influential. Headliners include Microsoft on Tuesday and Tesla on Wednesday.
Such big tech-oriented companies have already been announcing layoffs to cut expenses after acknowledging they misread the boom coming out of the pandemic and grew too quickly. Spotify said Monday it will cut 6% of its workforce, and it shares rose 2%.
Big Tech stocks carry particular weight on
After soaring through the pandemic thanks to super-low interest rates and a surge in demand from suddenly homebound customers, they’ve been struggling over the last year as the Fed has been furiously raising rates.
Also adding pressure on markets is another partisan battle in
Crunch time appears to be in the summer, but each day that it grows closer increases the risk.
In Asian markets, Tokyo’s
Several other markets in
-__ AP Business Writers
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