PARIS (Reuters) – US stock markets are advancing on Wall Street on Thursday, pending a speech by Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, which will focus on the state of the US economy.
In early trading, the Dow Jones index gained 131.60 points, or 0.39% to 34,231.02 points and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.34% to 4,391.30 points. The Nasdaq Composite takes 0.37% or 50.40 points, to 13,514.367. Investors will be focused on statements by Jerome Powell, expected at 2:05 p.m. GMT, which could help clarify the US economic outlook in the second half of the year, when activity shows surprising resistance to rate hikes.
In fact, if the economy continues to remain strong, the Fed may have to raise rates again.
“Recent data suggests that the consumer (and economy) could remain surprisingly resilient in the face of higher interest rates, which means it’s not unthinkable to envisage the Fed not only maintaining its status quo, but announces further rate hikes next year,” said Tiffany Wilding, North America economist at PIMCO.
On the values side, Nvidia lost 0.83% at the opening after taking profits linked to the strong progression of the title.
Tesla is up 0.51% after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it was nearing the end of its two-year investigation into the automaker and its autopilot.
(Writing by Corentin Chapron, editing by Kate Entringer)
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