Wall Street Stocks Trade Higher and Treasury Yields Hover at 15-Month Low

Barry Adams
10 Sep, 2024
New York City

Stocks attempted to rise for the second day in a row after Wall Street indexes rebounded from their worst week this year. 

The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite advanced as investors awaited key inflation data later in the week. 

Both indexes gained more than 1% in Monday's trading as investors searched for bargains in beaten-down tech and semiconductor stocks. 

Oracle surged as much as 6% after the database company reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results. 

Investors are on edge after Friday's payroll report showed that the U.S. economy added less-than-expected 142,000 jobs in August. 

The smaller increase in the payroll additions drove market indexes sharply lower in Friday's trading and extended weekly losses to between 4% and 6% amid worries of an economic slowdown. 

Moreover, investors are hoping that the Federal Reserve will provide an additional boost to the economy and lower its key lending rates by at least 25 basis points at the end of its two-day meeting on September 18. 

Despite the recent cooling of inflation, consumer prices are still rising faster than the Fed's target rate of 2%, and the recent decline in inflation is entirely driven by the weakness in energy and gasoline prices. 

The Federal Reserve is in a difficult spot; if rates are lowered too soon, that could stoke inflationary pressures in the months ahead, and if policymakers wait too long, then the economy may dip into a recession. 

 

U.S. Indexes and Treasury Yields

The S&P 500 index increased 0.3% to 5,486.63, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4% to 16,960.21, and the Russell 2000 index fell 0.1% to 2,095.90. 

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes edged lower to 3.66%, 10-year Treasury notes inched down to 3.71%, and 30-year Treasury bonds inched lower to 4.01%.

WTI crude oil decreased $0.57 to $68.13 a barrel, and natural gas prices edged up 6 cents to $2.23 a thermal unit.

Gold rose by $3.15 to $2,509.71 an ounce, and silver increased by $0.16 to $28.49.

The dollar index, which weighs the US currency against a basket of foreign currencies, edged higher to 101.64.

 

U.S. Stock Movers

Oracle Corp. jumped 10.4% to $154.90, and database developer and cloud infrastructure company reported better than expected quarter results. 

Revenue in the quarter ending in August increased 7% to $13.3 billion, net income rose to $2.9 billion from $2.4 billion, and diluted earnings per share advanced to $1.03 from 86 cents a year ago. 

Cloud services revenues were up 21% from a year ago to and up 22% in constant currency to $5.6 billion. 

Cloud license and on-premise license revenues were up 7% and up 8% in constant currency to $870 million. 

“As Cloud Services became Oracle’s largest business, both our operating income and earnings per share growth accelerated,” said Oracle CEO, Safra Catz.

Hewlett-Packard Enterprise fell 7.7% to $16.22, and the company plans to sell $1.35 billion of Series C mandatory convertible preferred stock. 

Apple declined 1.6% to $216.89, and investors reviewed the latest new products released by the mobile computing device maker. 

On Monday, Apple released the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, and both devices are packed with artificial intelligence features, a larger screen, and enhanced battery life. 

The latest iPhone models are priced between $800 and $1,200. 

Separately, the European Court of Justice ruled that Apple owes Є13 billion in back taxes, in a dispute that has been running since at least 2007. 

The latest court ruling forces the company to pay for taxes on profits generated from the licensing or sale of intellectual properties.