S&P 500 and Nasdaq Extend Rally to Fifth Consecutive Session

Barry Adams
10 Jul, 2024
New York City

Stocks on Wall Street advanced in early trading as investors looked forward to inflation data and digested the latest comments from Fed Chair Powell. 

The S&P 500 index extended gains for the fifth session, and the Nasdaq Composite edged higher for the seventh session in a row amid expectations of weakening consumer price and producer price inflation. 

Consumer price inflation data is scheduled to be released on Thursday and producer price inflation on Friday. 

The Federal Reserve policymakers are struggling to bring down inflation to its 2% target rate after several indicators show consumer prices are still rising at closer to 3%, despite eleven rate hikes over 2022 and 2023. 

Moreover, interest rates are not restrictive enough to slow down the economy and moderate wage gains, which is also contributing to higher inflation. 

Fed Chair Powell reiterated, in a testimony to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, the central bank's commitment to lower interest but said "more good data on inflation" is needed to determine that inflation is on the downward path. 

Chairman Powell is likely to reiterate his views to the U.S. House Financial Services Committee later today, but he is not expected to shed any light on the timeline for withdrawing the pandemic-era stimulus. 

The root cause of the latest bout of high inflation over the past three years is the Federal Reserve's reckless money printing during the COVID-19 pandemic, pumping more than four trillion dollars into the U.S. economy. 

 

U.S. Indexes and Treasury Yields

The S&P 500 index increased 0.2% to 5,588.12, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4% to 18,496.05.

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes edged higher to 4.62%, 10-year Treasury notes increased to 4.29%, and 30-year Treasury bonds edged lower to 4.48%.

WTI crude oil decreased $0.08 to $81.47 a barrel, and natural gas prices edged up 1 cent to $2.34 a thermal unit.

Gold decreased by $15.42 to $2,380.45 an ounce, and silver rose 20 cents to $31.20. 

The dollar index, which weighs the U.S. currency against a basket of foreign currencies, edged lower to 105.05.

 

U.S. Stock Movers 

3M declined 0.2% to $99.55 after the company said its chief financial officer, Monish Patolawala, is leaving the company to "pursue other opportunities" effective July 31. 

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing jumped 1.3% to $188.60, and the advanced semiconductor chip maker reported better-than-expected revenue in June. 

Consolidated revenue in June was approximately NT$207.87 billion, a decrease of 9.5% from May and an increase of 32.9% from June 2023.

Revenue in the first half of 2024 totaled NT$1,266.15 billion, an increase of 28% compared to the same period a year earlier.

LegalZoom.com plunged 28% to $5.66 after the company said its chief executive, Dan Wernikoff, has resigned from the office. 

The company also lowered its annual revenue outlook to between $675 million and $685 million from the previous guidance of between $700 million and $720 million.