Wall Street Records First Weekly Gain After Mid-August

On Friday, US equities recorded a rally as the major indexes on Wall Street saw their first weekly gain after four, with investors going on a buying streak, seemingly unconcerned about the economic uncertainty.

The gains

Mid-August had seen a sharp sell-off occur in the US markets brought on by concerns about the Fed continuing to tighten monetary policy and indications of an economic slowdown in China and Europe alike.

However, this week, the markets were finally able to record gains and analysts believe that this had more to do with the overselling that had occurred previously.

This is because uncertainty about the aggressive stance of the Fed in terms of interest rate hikes and inflation still exists.

The market analysts said that the bounce was not really surprising and it was happening mostly due to technical reasons.

They said that they expected the markets to start the next week on a strong note and then settle down and even trim some gains in preparation for the consumer price index (CPI) data due in the coming week.

Inflation expectations

On Tuesday, the CPI data for the month of August is due and investors will be looking forward to it to see if there are any signs of inflation easing.

It is expected to show an 8.1% increase in prices year-to-year in August, as compared to an 8.5% increase recorded in July.

Economists believe that inflation will see its sharpest decline in a month since April 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic had been at its peak.

This is in light of the declining prices of gas. On Friday, all 11 of the major sectors of the S&P 500 recorded gains, with consumer discretionary, energy, technology, and communication services in the lead.

The week also saw high growth stock’s record rises, after concerns about high-interest rates have hammered them from the beginning of the year.

Interest rate hike

The US Federal Reserve is scheduled to meet in the next week and investors are already jittery over the possibility of another big hike in the interest rate.

Christopher Waller, the governor of the US central bank, said on Friday that they need to be aggressive with their rate hikes until the economy can withstand them.

Esther George, the President of the Kansas City Fed, said that it could be difficult to curb inflation. These remarks come after Jerome Powell, the Fed’s chair, said that they were committed to controlling inflation.

Traders have priced in a 90% possibility of another interest rate hike of 75 basis points at the next meeting of the US Fed, which is higher than the 57% chance before.

There was a 1.19% rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which saw it rise by 377.19 points to reach 32,151.71.

A 1.53% gain in the S&P 500 index saw it go up by 61.18 points to reach 4,067.36 points and a 2.11% gain in the Nasdaq Composite saw it go up by 250.18 points to hit 12,112.31 points.

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