Major indices close at session highs ahead of Powell tomorrow
The major US indices are pricing at the session highs ahead of the Fed Chairs Jackson Hole speech tomorrow at 10 AM ET, and more hawkish comments from Fed officials today.
The gains are led by the Nasdaq indice which got a boost from lower yields. After two bad auctions on Tuesday and Wednesday, buyers showed up for the 7 year note auction which helped to push yields lower and boost risk on sentiment.
The final numbers are showing:
- Dow rose 322.53 points or 0.98% at 33291.79
- S&P rose 58.35 points or 1.41% at 4199.11
- Nasdaq rose 207.75 points or 1.67% at 12639.28
- Russell 2000 rose 29.34 points or 1.52% at 1964.63
In the US debt market,
- 2 year, 3.376%, -1.7 basis points
- 5 year 3.159%, – 7.6 basis points
- 10 year 3.031%, -7.8 basis points
- 30 year 3.242%, -7.5 basis points
Today Bullard said he wants to see rates move higher this year (up to 3.75% to 4.0%) and expects inflation to be more persistent. Get the rate higher while the going is good with low unemployment.
Esther George says she wants to at least 3 months of inflation declines to see where we may be going. Bostic is still torn between 50-75 basis points.
Damn the Fed. Stocks went higher. Yields went lower (at least for the day).