Wall Street stocks finish higher as investors focus on Fed moves

There was a lot of seesaw action today with all the indexes reaching highs around 2 pm, then sliding down to zero by 3 pm only to recover again in the final hour. The Dow alone gained over 160 points before diving to near break-even and then back up again.  This was largely due to anticipation over several major events coming this week, least of all not the Fed hoping that there aren’t any more hawkish comments. Certainly, no rate cuts are coming this month but there is concern that the statements may be even worse than before, which are already plenty hawkish enough.  

Confidence over cuts has diminished from 150 bps for the year estimated in January to a mere 35 bps for the year now. Today’s expert summed it up, “The overall momentum is still to the upside and it’s an important week, with a ton of earnings, the Fed on Wednesday, and nonfarm payrolls on Friday.” Stay tuned. Volume came in at 9.98 billion, still below the 4-week average of 11 billion. 

Wall Street stocks finish higher as investors focus on Fed moves

By Chibuike Oguh

Mon April 29, 2024 4:28 PM

DJ: 38,239.66  +153.86        NAS: 15,927.90  +316.14       S&P: 5,099.96  +51.54     4/26

DJ: 38,386.09  +146.43        NAS: 15,983.08  +55.18         S&P: 5,116.17  +16.21     4/29

NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended higher on Monday, with sharp gains for Tesla and Apple leading the way, as investors looked toward what the Federal Reserve would say about the interest rate outlook after its policy meeting this week.  Traders expected the Fed to keep rates unchanged while striking a hawkish tone.  Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab shares surged 15.3%, after the electric vehicle maker made progress in securing regulatory approval to launch its advanced driver-assistance program in China, its second-largest market after the U.S.  Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab gained 2.5% following a report that the iPhone maker had renewed discussions with OpenAI about using the startup's generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Bernstein upgraded Apple's stock to "outperform".  Other megacap stocks finished lower including Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab, Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab, and Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab. Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab closed higher after paring early losses.

Nine out of 11 S&P 500 sectors (.SPX), opens new tab ended higher led by stocks in consumer discretionary, utilities, real estates, materials and industrials. Equities in communication services and financials were the biggest losers.  The bigger question than rates, because they're not going to cut this week, is how hawkish they're going to speak because they've already been pretty hawkish," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at hedge fund Great Hill Capital in New York.  Money markets are pricing in about 35 basis points (bps) of interest rate cuts this year, down from about 150 bps seen at the beginning of the year, according to LSEG.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab rose 146.43 points, or 0.38%, to 38,386.09, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab gained 16.21 points, or 0.32%, to 5,116.17 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab gained 55.18 points, or 0.35%, to 15,983.08.

Shares of Domino's Pizza (DPZ.N), opens new tab jumped 5.6% after topping expectations for first-quarter same-store sales. Of the 233 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported quarterly earnings, 78.1% surpassed analyst expectations, compared with a long-term average of 67%, according to LSEG data.  Paramount Global (PARA.O), opens new tab gained 2.9% after a report that the Redstone family and Skydance Media CEO David Ellison have made concessions to make a potential change in control of the streaming firm more appealing for other investors.

"The overall momentum is still to the upside and it's an important week, with a ton of earnings, the Fed on Wednesday and nonfarm payrolls on Friday, and the path of least resistance is higher," said Bill Strazzullo, chief market strategist at Bell Curve Trading in Boston.  Meanwhile, the Japanese yen jumped against the dollar on Monday, with traders citing yen-buying intervention by authorities trying to support a currency languishing at levels last seen over three decades ago.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.72-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 2,615 stocks rose and 1,604 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.63-to-1 ratio.  The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and one new low while the Nasdaq recorded 80 new highs and 69 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.98 billion shares, compared with the 11 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.