Karen Friar· Editor Thu, November 2, 2023, 9:37 AM EDT In this article:
Stocks climbed on Thursday as investors bet the Federal Reserve is close to wrapping up its rate-hiking campaign and assessed a fresh stream of corporate results.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) soared more than 1.1%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) was up about 1% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained roughly 0.9%.
All three major gauges closed Wednesday with strong gains after the Fed held interest rates steady at their highest range in 22 years. The market’s overall takeaway from Chair Jerome Powell’s comments on the decision is that the US central bank will stick with keeping rates unchanged in December.
Read more: What the Fed rate-hike pause means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards
Traders are now pricing in an 85% chance there will be no more Fed hikes this year, compared with 59% odds the day before its policymakers’ meeting, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
But JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon told Yahoo Financethat he thinks the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates an additional 75 basis points due to “stickier” inflation, saying, “I suspect they may not be done.”
Attention is now turning more closely to earnings season, with Apple’s (AAPL) quarterly report due after-hours the highlight in a packed Thursday. Top of mind will be what its results show about the iPhone situation in China and global consumer spending, after a mixed bag of reports from US tech giants so far.
Meanwhile, Starbucks (SBUX) shares popped in early trading after the coffee chain beat estimates for revenue and earnings. Shopify (SHOP) said it returned to a profit in the third quarter as it adopted AI, and its shares jumped 15%.
