The Dow Jones Industrial dropped 0.35 percent at the close. and amounted to 38,905.66 points. The S&P 500 lost 0.29% at the end of the day. and amounted to 5,150.48 points. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.30%. and closed the session at 16,128.53 points. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap companies lost 2.18%. and amounted to 2,026.59 points. The VIX volatility index increased by 4.15%, to 14.32 points.
Will investors reconsider how quickly the Fed will cut interest rates?
“In anticipation of future Fed rate cuts, we continue to recommend investors manage liquidity, maintain allocations to attractive bond yields, and supplement their core capital holdings with small-cap stocks,” UBS Global Wealth Management strategists wrote in the report.
“We have just raised our target for the S&P 500, European and Japanese stocks as fundamentals continue to be quite resilient. The most realistic scenario is that corporate earnings will be stronger than expected,” said Grace Peters, head of global affairs investment strategy at JPMorgan Private Bank. It predicts that the American benchmark will reach 5,600 points in the bullish scenario.
“One of the questions is will yields go higher and if so, will we see more market declines? I think the answer is yes on both counts,” said Thierry Wizman, global currency and interest rate strategist. in Macquarie.
Prices of sold industrial production PPI in the US increased by 0.6% in February. month-on-month, year-on-year increased by 1.6%. After excluding food and energy prices, the PPI index increased by 0.3%. mdm, and y/y increased by 2%. Analysts expected PPI to increase by 0.3%. mdm, and after excluding food and energy prices, they expected an increase of 0.2%. mdm vs. respectively: +0.3 percent and +0.5 percent a month earlier. On a y-o-y basis, PPI was expected to increase by 1.2%. and an increase of 1.9%. for the base indicator, compared to: +1 percent, respectively. (after correction from +0.9%) and +2%. in last month.
“The question now is whether investors will reconsider how quickly the Fed will cut interest rates and whether that will slow the stock market rally in any significant way,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing at E-Trade at Morgan Stanley.
Macroeconomic data
US retail sales increased 0.6% in February. month to month. Analysts expected sales to increase by 0.8%. Retail sales excluding car sales increased by 0.3%, an increase of 0.5% was expected. A month earlier, retail sales in the US fell by 1.1%. in month-to-month terms, after correction from -0.8%, and excluding car sales, it decreased by 0.8%, after revision from -0.6%.
The number of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time last week in the US was 209,000. Economists expected the number of new unemployed to be 218,000. against 210 thousand previously, after correction from 217 thousand The number of unemployed people continuing to receive benefits was 1.811 million in the week that ended on March 2. Analysts expected 1.905 million compared to the previously quoted 1.794 million, after correction from 1.906 million.
Nvidia shares fell on Thursday for the fourth time in the last five sessions. This time they lost over 3% at the end of the day. Robinhood Markets shares gained more than 5%. after the trading app operator reported that its assets on deposit increased by 16 percent in February. Citigroup lost more than 1%, although Goldman Sachs raised its rating on the lender to “buy” from “neutral.”
SentinelOne fell 16%. after the cybersecurity company forecast 2025 revenue below analyst expectations. Aerospace and defense company RTX Corp. gained over 1 percent. after Wells Fargo upgraded the company's stock to “overweight” from “equal weight.” Tesla fell more than 4%. after Wells Fargo analysts forecast that the electric vehicle maker's sales volume will stagnate this year and decline in 2025.
On the oil market, WTI contracts for April are up by 1.78%. to USD 81.13 per barrel, and May Brent futures increase by 1.40%. up to USD 85.20/b.
