©Reuters. Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., February 1, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
By Johann M. Cherian and Ankika Biswas
(Reuters) – Wall Street gained ground on Wednesday following a sell-off in the previous session due to the inflation report, while Nvidia (NASDAQ:) surpassed the market value of Alphabet (NASDAQ:) to become the third-highest U.S. company value.
Nvidia surpassed the stock market capitalization of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, just days before the flagship of the artificial intelligence boom released fourth-quarter results. Their shares rose 1.8% and 0.2%, respectively.
Other rate-sensitive megacap stocks, Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) and Nvidia, and other chip stocks such as Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:) gained between 1.6% and 2.2 %.
Indexes had slumped to more than a week’s lows on Tuesday and the blue-chip Dow recorded its worst day in 11 months as core consumer prices in January remained at nearly double the Fed’s 2% target, forcing investors to reevaluate their rate cut expectations. .
“The most disconcerting thing is the pickup in inflation at almost every level, and certainly in the services side, obviously the hottest part of the economy,” said Paul Nolte, senior wealth advisor and market strategist for Murphy & Sylvest .
“I’m not ready to say that inflation is going back to the 4%-5% level, nor am I ready to say that it’s just a bump in the road back to 2%.”
Providing some relief were comments from Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee that the path to the 2% inflation target was still on track even if price increases were a bit more stronger than expected in the future, and the central bank should be cautious about waiting too long. before cutting rates.
Euphoria over an early start to monetary policy easing has fueled a Wall Street rally since November, paving the way for a bull market this year.
However, policymakers may have to wait a little longer for further evidence of easing price pressures amid a resilient U.S. economy.
Bets for a rate cut of at least 25 basis points in May stand at 37%, down from 63% earlier in the week, while expectations for June stand at 78.6%, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool.
As of 9:50 a.m. ET, the index was up 58.98 points, or 0.15%, at 38,331.73, the S&P 500 Index was up 24.26 points, or 0.49% , at 4,977.43, and the index was up 93.83 points, or 0.60%, at 15,749.43.
Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors advanced, led by a 1% gain in the communications services sector, while the small-cap index gained 1.4%.
Lyft (NASDAQ:) rose 31.6% after the ride-hailing platform’s profits beat estimates and it said it will generate positive free cash flow for the first time in 2024.
Rival Uber (NYSE:) gained 8.8%, boosted by a $7 billion stock buyback plan.
Robinhood (NASDAQ:) Markets jumped 14.8% following a surprise fourth-quarter profit.
Crypto stocks such as Coinbase (NASDAQ:), Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:) and Riot rose between 10.5% and 14.7% as bitcoin’s market value surpassed $1 trillion for the first time from November 21st.
Advancing issues outpaced declining ones by a ratio of 5.06 to 1 on the NYSE and a ratio of 3.68 to 1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 21 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 34 new highs and 24 new lows.