Wall St ends higher as investors digest earnings, rate cut prospects

Wall St ends higher as investors digest earnings, rate cut prospects

By Abigail Summerville and Shashwat Chauhan

Wed February 5, 2025 5:13 PM

All the indexes started in the red, the Nasdaq deeply in the red about 150 points, but began recovering almost immediately reaching break-even around noon. Though the Nasdaq managed to close just barely in the black, both the S&P and Dow did considerably better, the Dow even closing with a respectable 3-digit gain. The earlier drop was due to a disappointing Google Q4 and the comeback attributed to a gradual recovery of the AI sector after last week’s DeepSeek shock, particularly with Nvidia which boosted up 5.4%.  

The better news was an ISM report showing unexpected slowing in the services sector, something that would ordinarily cause concern but, as has been long since noted, these are not ordinary times. The slowdown is taken as good news as it bolsters confidence in more rate cuts, also encouraged today by positive comments from Richmond Prez Barkin.  The VIX dropped a whopping 7.9% Wednesday, now down to 15.85, but the rather severe rollercoaster that it’s been on this past month does reflect how nervous the market is. All eyes are now on nonfarm payrolls due Friday. Volume remains below the 15.3 billion average, coming in at 13.8 billion. 

DJ: 44,556.04  +134.13      NAS: 19,654.02  +262.06     S&P: 6,037.88  +43.31        2/4

DJ: 44,873.28  +317.24      NAS: 19,692.33  +38.32       S&P: 6,061.48  +23.60        2/5

Wed 2-5-25 5:13 pm Wall St ends higher as investors digest earnings, rate cut prospects | Reuters