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30/07/24
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Stocks On Wall Street Higher Amid Continuing Quarterly Earnings; Focus on Fed
On Tuesday, stocks on Wall Street inched higher amid caution at the beginning of the Federal Reserve meeting and with earnings from some of the largest companies in the country to be evaluated.
The NASDAQ Composite gained 4 points, or 0.1%, the S&P 500 climbed 13 points, or 0.2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 185 points, or 0.5%.
Although it is generally expected the U.S. central bank will not change interest rates, after a benign inflation report for June, investors are expecting Fed Chair Jerome Powell to pave the way for a rate cut in September.
Although Fed officials have stated repeatedly that they were needing more evidence that inflation was returning to 2% steadily before they would cut rates, Powell earlier in the month indicated that the central bank may start cutting rates before inflation reaches the target.
Markets have priced in a 0.25% rate cut in September fully, with a small likelihood of a 0.5% cut, and have priced in 0.66% of easing by the end of this year.
There are more key earnings to evaluate this week, beginning with Microsoft reporting its earnings for the June quarter on Tuesday after the bell.
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