(Telestock) – Wall Street moves higher ahead of speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium, for clues on the pace of rate cuts in the world’s largest economy. The New York Stock Exchange closed the session in the red yesterday, particularly due to the decline in the technology sector.
It is now a given that the US central bank will start cutting its key rate at its next meeting in Septemberwith most central bankers saying they were encouraged by inflation data and increasingly anxious about the health of the labor market. There is still uncertainty over the size of the rate cut, which could be 25 or 50 basis points.
The news of the increase in requests for unemployment in the United States on Thursday, after the review of the pay slips for the previous 12 months released on Wednesday, seems to confirm that the labor market is gradually softening.
The statements releases in the past 24 hours seem to confirm this scenario: Kansas City Fed President Frank Schmid, Boston Fed President Susan Collins and Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker have all indicated that the start of monetary easing is imminent.
Today’s macroeconomic agenda is rather sparse. The only indication coming is that of the Real estate sales from builders to first owners for the month of July.
As regards the quarterly, Workday beat market expectations for the second quarter and announced a $1 billion share buyback plan, while Ross Stores raised its full-year profit forecast.
Looking at the main indexes of the US stock market, the Dow Joneswhich advances to 40,938 points (+0.55%); along the same lines, a slight increase for theS&P-500which reaches 5,603 points (+0.64%). Good performance by the Nasdaq 100 (+0.77%); as well as fractional gains for theS&P 100 (+0.62%).