Stocks gained ground Thursday morning as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s latest assessment of the economy and awaited a handful of noteworthy earnings reports. The S&P 500 was up 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively. The major indexes have gained ground in three of the past four sessions. On Wednesday, the Fed—after announcing a widely expected decision to leave its key interest rate unchanged—said that the economy continues to expand at a “solid pace.” Nonetheless, members of the Fed’s policy committee have scaled back their growth forecasts and raised their projections for inflation amid increased “uncertainty around the economic outlook.” While committee members maintained their expectations for two rate cuts in 2025, Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed is in no rush to adjust policy as it seeks clarity on the impact of Trump administration policies.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which has fallen in recent months as concerns about the economy have grown, was at 4.22% recently, down from 4.26% at yesterday’s close. Mega-cap technology companies were mostly higher, led by a 4% gain for Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META). AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) rose about 2%, while Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOG) were also gaining ground. Shares of data analytics software provider Palantir (PLTR), an AI investor favorite that has slumped lately, were up about 3%. Marketing platform AppLovin (APP), another volatile AI stock, rose more than 4%.
Sporting goods company Nike (NKE), package delivery giant FedEx (FDX) and memory chip maker Micron (MU) are each due to release quarterly earnings reports after the closing bell today. Investors will be closely watching the numbers, as well as comments from executives, for clues about the state of the economy. Gold futures were up 0.2% at $3,050 an ounce, after touching a new record high this morning, while West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, rose 1.7% to $68.30 per barrel. Bitcoin was at $85,600, little changed from where it was trading late Wednesday. — news from Investopedia
