Item 1 of 2 Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., June 24, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
[1/2]Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., June 24, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
In a first, S&P 500 crosses 5,600 mark
TSMC up on strong Q2 revenue growth
Intuit to cut about 1,800 jobs; shares fall
Illumina rises after acquiring Fluent BioSciences
Indexes up: Dow 0.31%, S&P 0.42%, Nasdaq 0.54%
July 10 (Reuters) – Wall Street rose on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 again touching record highs as strength in Nvidia and other mega stocks kept investor sentiment bullish before crucial inflation data and second-quarter earnings later this week.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched their fifth straight intraday record highs, with the benchmark index crossing the 5,600 level for the first time, as hopes for an interest-rate cut in September received a boost from Jerome Powell’s statement that the U.S. was “no longer an overheated economy”.
Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab jumped 2.4% to hit a nearly three-week high, while Micron Technology (MU.O), opens new tab, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), opens new tab and ON Semiconductor (ON.O), opens new tab all rose more than 3% after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co posted a second-quarter revenue beat.
U.S.-listed shares of the world’s largest contract chip maker climbed 2.6%. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index (.SOX), opens new tab touched a record high for the second straight session.
Of the so-called “Magnificent Seven” stocks, Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab and Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab rose 0.7% and 0.2%, respectively. Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab also climbed 1.6% to a record high, as U.S. Treasury yields slipped.
The S&P 500 Materials Index (.SPLRCM), opens new tab topped sectoral gainers, with nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sub-sector indexes in the green. The small-cap Russell 2000 (.RUT), opens new tab gained 0.6%.
With just a handful of large-cap stocks supporting Wall Street’s banner rally this year, participants have been wondering when other sections of the market will catch up, leading some to call for greater diversification.
Federal Reserve Chair Powell said on his second day of Congressional testimony that he was not ready to conclude that inflation was moving sustainably down to 2%, although he expressed “some confidence of that”.
His comments come ahead of key inflation data this week, with the Consumer Price Index due on Thursday and the Producer Price Index report on Friday.
“We expect to see continued albeit slow disinflation… and with increasing signs that the U.S. economy is slowing down, we believe that the Fed could be in a position to lower interest rates in September,” said Julien Lafargue, chief market strategist at Barclays Private Bank.
Bets on a 25-basis-point rate cut by September ticked up to 74%, up from around 70% on Tuesday and 45% a month ago, according to CME’s FedWatch.
The second-quarter earnings season, which kicks off this week with major banks reporting on Friday, will be a key test for whether high-flying megacaps can justify expensive valuations and continue their strong runs.
At 12:15 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab was up 122.21 points, or 0.31%, at 39,414.18, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab was up 23.63 points, or 0.42%, at 5,600.61, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab was up 99.39 points, or 0.54%, at 18,528.68.
TurboTax parent Intuit (INTU.O), opens new tab, which plans to lay off about 10% of its workforce, lost 4.0%.
Gene-sequencing equipment maker Illumina jumped 4.9% on plans to acquire privately held Fluent BioSciences.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.66-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 1.47-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 21 new 52-week highs and nine new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 41 new highs and 91 new lows.
