Wall Street ends sharply higher as Powell cements September rate cut hopes

Wall Street ends sharply higher as Powell cements September rate cut hopes

By Stephen Culp

Fri August 23, 2024  6:35 PM

At the conclusion of Jackson Hole, the magic words were finally spoken today that investors had so long and so anxiously awaited, “The time has come to lower the Fed funds target rate and the upside risks of inflation have diminished.” With this virtual guarantee that a September rate cut is indeed finally coming (and widely expected more cuts before year-end), all three indexes went through the roof with big 3-digit gains all around. All three indexes posted weekly gains following last week’s biggest gains for the year. Coming next week is GDP and PCE, the Fed’s preferred inflation metric. Volume, though still below the 11.88 billion-average, was closer at 10.57 billion. 

DJ: 40,712.78  -177.71      NAS: 17,619.35  -299.63       S&P: 5,570.64  -50.21         8/22

DJ: 41,175.08  +462.30     NAS: 17,877.79  +258.44      S&P: 5,634.61  +63.97        8/23

Fri 8-23-24 6:35 pm Wall Street ends sharply higher as Powell cements September rate cut hopes | Reuters