NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks shrugged off early weakness on Monday (Aug 15) and pushed higher, extending a positive run for the market that began last month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 151.39 points, or 0.45%, to 33,912.44, the S&P 500 gained 16.99 points, or 0.40%, to 4,297.14 and the Nasdaq Composite added 80.87 points, or 0.62%, to 13,128.05.
Equities initially fell after weak Chinese economic data and a gloomy reading from the New York Federal Reserve Bank on regional manufacturing activity, but turned around by midday.
“The risk of a global recession is pretty high at the moment,” said FHN Financial’s Chris Low, adding that a silver lining of the weakening outlook is the expectation that the Federal Reserve could pivot more quickly and slow its efforts to raise interest rates to quell red-hot prices.
“The Fed will stop sooner if inflation goes away and it’s more likely to go away sooner with the global economy slowing,“ Low said.
“Market participants (are) looking at the Fed and saying, ‘Hey, they’re going to be cutting rates here sooner than we know, and that’s going to be good for the equity market,‘” said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Investment Management in Chicago.
After a brutal first half of 2022, stocks enjoyed a buoyant July and the positive trend has continued into August.
“This market, over the past week, has shown an incredible amount of resilience and desire to continue to move higher,” said Nick Reece of Merk investments.
This week will offer a window into the state of the US consumer, with a government data on retail sales for July coming tomorrow, and earnings reports from Walmart, Home Depot and other giant chains. – AFP, Reuters
After a brutal first half of 2022, stocks enjoyed a buoyant July and the positive trend has continued into August.
