Wall Street rallied on Thursday, September 14, as recent economic figures calmed down those worrying over the possibility of a recession.
The S&P 500 ended Thursday trading at 4,505.17 points, an overall increase of 0.84. Tech exchange Nasdaq, on the other hand, rose by 0.81%, closing at 13,926.05 points. The stellar debut by Arm, a British chip design company partly owned by Japanese financial firm SoftBank, helped the exchange rally.
Meanwhile the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its largest daily percentage gain since early August, closing at 34,907.51, an increase of around 0.96%
What Drove the Rally?
Among the driving factors was the United States retail sector’s report of higher sales than expected last month despite the rising cost of fuel. At the same time, monthly producer prices for final demand bucked predictions that it would only be up by 0.4% and closed August at 0.7%. This means that producer prices are up by 1.6%, slightly higher than the previous estimate of around 1.2%.
For Ross Mayfield, an investment strategy analyst for financial services firm Baird, the economic scene has become quite bullish thanks to the possibility of a softer landing for the economy without the Federal Reserve needing to push for yet another round of interest rate hikes.
For its part, the CME FedWatch Tool pointed out that around 97% of traders expect the Fed to stick to its current holding rates when it holds its policy meeting on Wednesday, September 20. It also stated that the likelihood of yet another pause in rate hikes come November of this year stands at approximately 67%.
But not everyone is optimistic that the Federal Reserve will be relaxing its hard-nosed approach against inflation within the foreseeable future. Citigroup, in particular, sees the Fed increasing interest rates by 25 points before the end of the year.
