Goldilocks might be onto something. Over the past week, investors were busy figuring out the best way to play the Federal Reserve’s decision to lower interest rates for the first time since 2020. I asked a number of strategists which stocks stand to benefit the most going forward. Surprisingly, it’s not large or small caps…
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), S&P 500 (^GSPC), and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) opened little changed on Wednesday. It comes on the heels of record closes for both the Dow and S&P 500 on Tuesday. With the Federal Reserve’s rate cut moving toward the rearview mirror, Wall Street is searching for the next catalyst to…
This bull market is now nearly two years old, with no real indications that it is slowing down. In fact, it just got a significant boost from the Federal Reserve. The U.S. central bank last week lowered the federal funds rate by 50 basis points (0.5 percentage points), sparking a rally in the stock market:…
Friday’s market close marked the end of a “triple witching” session where $5.1 trillion in stock index futures, stock index options, and stock options expire simultaneously. September’s triple witching comes the same week as the Federal Reserve kicks off its rate-cutting cycle and a rebalancing of the S&P 500 (^GSPC). eToro US investment and options…
The Federal Reserve slashed the federal funds rate (overnight interest rate) by 50 basis points on Wednesday, which was double the 25-basis-point adjustment it typically uses. Inflation has fallen sharply over the past year while the unemployment rate has stayed relatively steady (although it is beginning to tick higher), which were two key reasons for…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve’s big bang start on Wednesday to what’s expected to be more interest-rate cuts this year and next may have had the full support of only a slim majority of the central bank’s 19 policymakers, a look at their rate-path projections suggests. That’s a closer call than the lone formal…
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq are all jumping as Wall Street digests the impact of the Federal Reserve’s 50 basis point rate cut. Chip stocks are leading the way with Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices both up more than 5% at midday. Another stock in focus is FedEx. The shipping giant…
The Federal Reserve’s half-percentage-point interest rate cut could have shaken markets had it exacerbated investor fears that the central bank was preparing for an economic slowdown. Instead, Fed Chair Powell appears to have convinced investors the central bank is cutting rates to keep the economy on track, not to save it. Stocks surged Thursday following…
(Reuters) – BofA Global Research raised its forecast for the Federal Reserve’s anticipated interest rate cuts for the remainder of this year to 75 basis points, after the U.S. central bank kicked off a widely expected series of reductions on Wednesday. The Fed announced a larger-than-usual half-percentage-point reduction that Chair Jerome Powell said was meant…
The long-awaited moment has arrived. The Federal Reserve is meeting this week, and economists are predicting policymakers will launch the first interest rate cut in four years. The Fed began lifting rates back in 2022 to calm raging inflation and since has lifted the benchmark rate 11 times, leaving it at 5.5% today. That’s the…