US close: Stocks higher after Fed chair Powell comments
Wall Street stocks finished above the waterline on Thursday, having dipped earlier following comments from Fed chairman Jerome Powell.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.61% at 31,774.52, as the S&P 500 added 0.66% to 4,006.18 and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.6% at 11,862.13.
The Dow closed 193.24 points higher on Thursday, adding to the solid gains it recorded in Wednesday’s trading.
Both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq held a minute’s silence at 1500 EDT to honour the life of Queen Elizabeth II.
The UK’s monarch for the last 70 years died at Balmoral in Scotland on Thursday afternoon, after Buckingham Palace announced serious concerns for her health.
Thursday's primary focus stateside was comments from Fed chairman Jerome Powell,, with the central bank head saying policymakers would have to "keep at it" until inflation came down.
In remarks at the Cato Institute in Washington DC, Powell said that it was key to understand if the world was shifting to structurally higher inflation and also said fiscal policy was not on a sustainable path and needed to be fixed "sooner rather than later".
Market participants also looked across the pond, with the European Central Bank lifted interest rates by an unprecedented 75 basis points as it looks to tackle surging inflation.
The ECB lifted its key interest rate to 1.25%, as widely expected, and the deposit rate to 0.75% from zero.
It also said it now expects inflation to average 8.1% this year, 5.5% in 2023, and 2.3% in 2024.
In the year to August, eurozone inflation rose to a record high of 9.1% from 8.9% a month earlier, with energy prices up a whopping 38.3% year over year.
On the macro front, Americans filed new jobless claims at a decelerated pace in the week ended 3 September, according to the Department of Labor.
Initial unemployment claims fell by 6,000 last week, falling to 222,000 from a downwardly revised print of 228,000 in the previous week and well below consensus expectations for a reading of 240,000.
In the corporate space, Apple was down 0.96% after the tech behemoth announced a slate of new products including its new flagship iPhone late on Wednesday.
On the upside, GameStop was ahead 7.45% after it announced a tie-up with digital asset marketplace FTX.
Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com. Additional reporting by Iain Gilbert.
Dow Jones - Risers
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $156.90 2.36%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $118.60 2.33%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $335.37 1.46%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $183.15 1.27%
Boeing Co. (BA) $157.80 1.18%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $527.51 1.12%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $49.44 0.88%
American Express Co. (AXP) $153.64 0.83%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $299.90 0.82%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $165.39 0.80%
Dow Jones - Fallers
3M Co. (MMM) $119.27 -1.06%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $154.46 -0.96%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $35.96 -0.33%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $112.33 -0.32%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $62.12 -0.30%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) $0.00 0.00%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $137.86 0.13%
Visa Inc. (V) $200.71 0.14%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $258.52 0.17%
S&P 500 - Risers
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $708.85 18.85%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $30.62 7.89%
Invesco Ltd. (IVZ) $17.36 4.77%
Sl Green Realty Corp. (SLG) $47.91 4.49%
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (CFG) $37.83 4.47%
Albemarle Corp. (ALB) $291.43 4.38%
Huntington Bancshares Inc. (HBAN) $14.14 4.35%
Stryker Corp. (SYK) $220.28 4.29%
Keycorp (KEY) $18.49 4.05%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $82.78 3.98%
S&P 500 - Fallers
McCormick & Co. (MKC) $79.30 -6.71%
Williams Companies Inc. (WMB) $32.00 -3.88%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $36.06 -3.38%
Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) $47.81 -2.98%
Kroger Co. (KR) $48.36 -2.93%
Realty Income Corp. (O) $66.36 -2.80%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $86.33 -2.53%
Kellogg Co. (K) $71.75 -1.94%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $34.37 -1.74%
Welltower Inc (WELL) $76.37 -1.67%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $708.85 18.85%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $351.09 3.93%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $922.54 3.93%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $207.98 3.64%
DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $32.91 3.10%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $257.30 2.94%
Idexx Laboratories Inc. (IDXX) $364.95 2.90%
NortonLifeLock Inc. (NLOK) $23.39 2.32%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $42.41 2.32%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $61.67 2.26%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $36.06 -3.38%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $2.84 -2.74%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $86.33 -2.53%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $12.48 -2.04%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $19.02 -2.01%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $85.50 -1.97%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $20.08 -1.76%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $34.37 -1.74%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $395.91 -1.65%
Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $141.56 -1.09%