Wall Street shares rose on Wednesday as traders awaited details of the Federal Reserve meeting in early May, which could shed more light on the future direction of monetary policy.
The S&P 500, which fell in bearish territory last week during difficult months for global equities, rose 0.6 percent in turbulent trading. Nasdaq Composite technology gained 0.8 percent.
Wednesday’s moves came even as a key indicator for future U.S. manufacturing output lost expectations and consumer-oriented companies continued to cast bleak prospects.
Long-term goods orders rose 0.4% in April from the previous month, a slowdown from 0.6% in March and below economists’ estimates compiled by Refinitiv of an increase of 0%. , 6%. A basic reading that eliminates transport orders, which can skew the data, also lost its forecast, rising 0.3 percent.
The Fed, which is influencing monetary policy around the world and later released the minutes of its early May rate-setting meeting, has sent strong signals that it will raise borrowing costs until inflation is domestic. , which is in the maximum of four decades. However, some analysts are questioning the extent to which the US central bank is prepared to raise rates.
“Markets are telling us that the risks of a recession are rising,” said Mary Nicola, a portfolio manager for various assets at PineBridge Investments.
But if the Fed’s account of its last rate-setting meeting included “a language that suggests a pause or worries about growth, that could obviously really change the price of the markets,” Nicola said.
Salman Baig, portfolio manager at Unigestion, said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if we started to see more language about looking at the data. inflation has changed and we are not there yet. ”
On the business front, Dicks Sporting Goods on Wednesday became the latest U.S. consumer business to lower its earnings outlook, sending its shares down about 7%. This was followed by a strong session in the stock markets on Tuesday after social media group Snap warned of macroeconomic conditions and investors were frightened by disappointing data on U.S. housing and business surveys. .
In the fixed-income markets, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which supports the costs of borrowing worldwide and falls as the price of the debt instrument rises, was stable at 2.76. percent, at least a month.
The two-year Treasury yield, which follows interest rate expectations, fell 0.02 percentage points to 2.5%, after rising above 2.8% in early May.
Reflecting the continuing uncertainty about market orientation and monetary policy, the dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six others, rose 0.3%.
The euro lost 0.5 percent against the dollar to just over $ 1.06 as a rebound fueled by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde faded. end of negative interest rates in the euro area.
Elsewhere in the stock markets, Europe’s regional Stoxx 600 caliber added 0.8 percent.