Stocks jump Thursday after Federal Reserve’s jumbo-sized rate cut
CNN
Stocks jumped Thursday morning as investors cheered the Federal Reserve’s eye-popping half-point interest rate cut.
Stocks jumped Thursday morning as investors cheered the Federal Reserve’s eye-popping half-point interest rate cut. The Dow rose 537 points, or 1.3%. The S&P 500 gained 1.6%, topping the 5,700 level. The Nasdaq Composite added 2.3%. Tech stocks surged: Nvidia shares popped 4%, Tesla shares gained 2.6%, Meta Platforms shares rose 2% and Apple shares climbed 2.2%. The Fed on Wednesday cut rates by half a point, marking its first rate cut since the onset of the Covid pandemic and bringing rates down from a 23-year high. The move was larger than the smaller, more conservative quarter-point cut that some investors expected from the central bank. A large rate cut can be a double-edged sword for the economy. Lowering borrowing rates should take pressure off companies and everyday Americans, which should theoretically help slow down job losses. But that can also be inflationary, running the risk of undoing some of the Fed’s hard-fought battle against wayward price hikes. The Fed’s latest decision reflects its shift from tamping down inflation to the other part of its dual mandate: maximizing employment. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters on Wednesday that he believes the job market and economy are both on solid footing. But he cautioned that the labor market is no longer as strong as it was before the Covid pandemic.
Nippon Steel is expected to re-file its application for a national security review by American regulators of its $15 billion takeover bid of US Steel, sources familiar with the matter told CNN on Tuesday, buying Japan’s largest steelmaker an additional 90 days to close its acquisition of an American rival after political opposition emerged in an election year.
So far, the attacks that targeted Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah members through their pagers have had devastating consequences. At least nine people, including an eight-year-old girl, were killed, and at least 2,800 were wounded. Over 150 of those injured are in critical condition, according to the Lebanese health minister.