Stocks climb, break 4-day losing streak
Stocks rose in a jittery session before inflation data that will help shape the views on whether a soft landing is still on the table amid the Federal Reserve’s most-aggressive tightening drive in a generation.
After erasing a rally of almost 1 percent, the S&P 500 came back up — halting a four-day rout. The index regained its 4,000 mark breached earlier this week in a fight to stay above a key uptrend line from the October low. The Nasdaq 100 outperformed as huge names like
Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. rebounded and Nvidia Corp. soared 14 percent on a bullish forecast.
The recovery that followed the worst selloff this year for equities came with a series of twists and turns on Wall Street.
One of the reasons is that Friday’s personal consumption expenditures index — the Fed’s preferred price gauge — is expected to show acceleration. Today’s report will likely add to a string of unfavorable figures that so far cement the case for the central bank to hold rates at 5.25 percent for some time, according to Bloomberg Economics’ Anna Wong. The current benchmark sits in a range between 4.5 percent and 4.75 percent.
In the run-up to the numbers, data showed U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter was weaker than previously estimated, reflecting a downward revision to consumer spending. A separate report highlighted unrelenting labor-market tightness.
The U.S. economy has obstacles to overcome, though there’s still a chance for a soft landing, Jamie Dimon said. “The U.S. economy right now is doing quite well — consumers have a lot of money, they’re spending it, jobs are plentiful,” the JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s chief told CNBC.
“Out in front of us there’s some scary stuff,” he added.
In other corporate news, Netflix Inc. tumbled on plans to cut the price of subscriptions in over 100 countries. Domino’s Pizza sank the most in more than a decade as delivery woes and softening demand caused fourth-quarter sales to trail Wall Street expectations and led management to cut targets for revenue growth.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin is on pace for its second monthly advance, breaking with stocks and other riskier assets that have slid amid renewed concern about rising interest rates. The crypto market’s rally recovers only a sliver of the ground lost last year, when prices tumbled and the collapse of the FTX exchange caused a pullback by investors.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent for its first gain in five days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 108 points, or 0.3 percent, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.7 percent.