Tech Stocks Halt Two-day Selloff, Powell Reiterates Interest Rate Stance

Barry Adams
06 Mar, 2024
New York City

Stocks on Wall Street edged higher after two losing sessions in a row. 

The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite inched higher, and semiconductor stocks resumed their advance. 

Investors also reviewed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's prepared comments to be delivered to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. 

Fed Chair Powell reiterated the central bank's stand to keep interest rates restrictive and not ease inflation too early. 

“The Committee does not expect that it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent,” Powell added in his comments. 

Despite the Fed's tough talk, the central bank has expanded the broad money supply by 45% during the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022, driving up food, automobile, and home prices by more than 100%. 

Private payrolls expanded in February by 140,000 after growing by an upwardly revised 111,000 in January, payroll processing company ADP reported Wednesday. 

Job gains in the month were driven by leisure and hospitality, adding 41,000, followed by construction expanding by 28,000, utilities by 27,000, and financial services by 17,000. 

 

U.S. Indexes and Yields

The S&P 500 index decreased 0.9% to 5,085.84, and the Nasdaq Composite decreased 1.5% to 15,963.81. 

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes decreased to 4.58%, 10-year Treasury notes inched down to 4.14%, and 30-year Treasury bonds edged down to 4.28%.

WTI crude oil decreased $1.01 to $79.13 a barrel, and natural gas prices decreased 1 cent to $1.97 a thermal unit.

Gold increased by $8.53 to $2,136.23 an ounce, and silver rose 11 cents to $23.79. 

The dollar index, which weighs the U.S. dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, edged lower to 103.88.

 

U.S. Stock Movers

Nordstrom plunged 9.2% to $18.87 after the department store chain reported better-than-expected results in the fiscal fourth quarter, but the company's 2024 guidance for the current year fell short of market expectations. 

CrowdStrike Holdings soared 22.5% to $364.59 after the cyber security company reported better-than-expected quarterly results. 

Box jumped 4.6% to $28.50 after the cloud storage company reported revenue in line with analysts' estimates. 

Foot Locker plunged 11.1% to $30.50 after the athletic footwear retailer reported a loss in its latest quarter and the company guided weaker-than-expected sales in the current year. 

Abercrombie & Fitch declined 2% to $137.01 despite the apparel retailer reporting better-than-expected sales in the holiday quarter and the company's positive outlook for the current year. 

Sales in the quarter ending on January 28 increased 21% to $1.45 billion from $1.2 billion, net income advanced to $158.4 million from $38.3 million, and diluted earnings per share rose to $2.97 from 75 cents a year ago. 

The retailer estimated sales in the current quarter to rise by a low double-digit percentage and increase between 4% and 6% in the fiscal year.