Wall Street posts gains as investors eye rate outlook

It was a seesaw day with all the indexes down in the morning but then building to modest gains by close. This illustrates the “tug of war between investors seemingly getting more concerned about ‘higher for longer’ and bulls wondering maybe we have seen the correction and can start to build from these levels higher.” There’s a lot of fence sitting going with investors waiting for data this week on durable goods, PCE and Q2 GDP. And still another Fed prez said today that fighting inflation to the 2% goal is less risky than slowing the economy. Though the S&P has slid more than 5% since late July, it is still up 13% for the year. Volume remains below average at 9.1 billion. 

Wall Street posts gains as investors eye rate outlook

By Lewis Krauskopf, Ankika Biswas and Shashwat Chauhan

Mon September 25, 2023 4:25 PM

DJ: 33,963.84  -106.58        NAS: 13,211.81  -12.18         S&P: 4,320.06  -9.94        9/22

DJ: 34.006.88  +43.04         NAS: 13,271.32  +59.51        S&P: 4,337.44  +17.38     9/25

Sept 25 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes posted gains on Monday, with increases in Amazon.com shares and the energy sector, as Treasury yields rose further and investors looked to economic data and Federal Reserve policymakers' remarks later in the week for clarity on the path for interest rates. Investors are grappling with the rise in benchmark Treasury yields to 16-year highs after the Fed gave a hawkish longer-term rate outlook. The S&P 500 rebounded on Monday after last week it had its biggest weekly drop since March.  There is a "tug of war between investors seemingly getting more concerned about 'higher for longer' ... and bulls wondering maybe we have seen the correction and we can start to build from these levels higher," said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 43.04 points, or 0.13%, to 34,006.88; the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 17.38 points, or 0.40%, at 4,337.44; and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 59.51 points, or 0.45%, at 13,271.32.  Among S&P 500 sectors, energy (.SPNY) led the way, rising 1.3%, while materials (.SPLRCM) gained 0.8%. Defensive sectors lagged, with the consumer staples (.SPLRCS) group dropping 0.4%. 

With the end of the third quarter drawing near, investors said market moves may be relatively muted until companies report quarterly results in the coming weeks.  The S&P 500 has slid about 5.5% since late July but remains up about 13% for 2023.  "There is less urgency to aggressively buy pullbacks in a higher-for-longer world and that is what the market is going to have to deal with over the coming months," said Angelo Kourkafas, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones.  Investors through the week will be monitoring data including on durable goods and the personal consumption expenditures price index for August, and second-quarter Gross Domestic Product, as well as remarks by Fed policymakers, including Chair Jerome Powell.  Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said in an interview with CNBC on Monday that inflation staying above the Fed's 2% target remains a greater risk than tight central bank policy slowing the economy more than needed.

In company news, Amazon.com (AMZN.O) shares rose 1.7% after the e-commerce giant said it will invest up to $4 billion in startup Anthropic to compete with growing cloud rivals in artificial intelligence.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.2-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 52 new highs and 341 new lows on the NYSE.  On the Nasdaq, declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.1-to-1 ratio. The Nasdaq recorded 45 new highs and 426 new lows.

About 9.1 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, compared with the 10 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.