All three major US stock indexes gained ground after rebounding from an earlier dip as Israel sought talks with Lebanon.
“There’s an increasing recognition that this administration is more bark than bite, and willing to make grand statements about world destruction,” said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors, in New York. “From an investor’s perspective, you have to decide whether to ignore it all or just cash in and sit it out the next two years.”
In two sessions, the S&P 500 has moved back above its 100-day and 200-day moving averages, two key technical levels.
Crude prices CLc1 seesawed throughout the session as markets waited for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil is shipped. Front-month WTI futures settled up 3.66%, but remained below US$100 per barrel.
The CBOE Market Volatility Index, called the “fear index,” dipped to its lowest point since the onset of the war.
The Commerce Department issued its GDP and PCE reports, which showed the economy grew at a slower-than-expected pace in the fourth quarter, while consumer prices remain elevated.
Minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s most recent monetary meeting showed policymakers are increasingly eyeing potential interest rate hikes to counter the inflationary impact of a prolonged Iran war.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 275.88 points, or 0.58%, to 48,185.80, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 41.85 points, or 0.62%, to 6,824.66 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 187.42 points, or 0.83%, to 22,822.42.
Energy sector drops most
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, energy shares dropped the most, while consumer discretionary registered the biggest percentage gain.
Consumer discretionary stocks got a boost after Amazon.com’s CEO Andy Jassy said its artificial intelligence services at its cloud-computing unit are generating annualized revenue of more than US$15 billion. Amazon’s shares rose 5.6%.
Software stocks were clear underperformers on the day, sliding 2.2%, while retail and chips outperformed, rising 4.1% and 2.1%, respectively.
Constellation Brands jumped 8.5% after the company posted a smaller-than-expected drop in fourth-quarter sales.
Applied Digital shares dropped 8% after the data center operator’s third-quarter net loss widened from a year earlier.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.99-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 254 new highs and 83 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 2,651 stocks rose and 2,029 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.31-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 44 new 52-week highs and 19 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 158 new highs and 135 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was 17 billion shares, compared with the 19.38 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.