Stocks soar on Wall Street as markets try to shake off miserable September
CBSN
Stocks are rising on Wall Street as markets open the month trying to shake off a miserable September marred by fears that the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes would hurtle the U.S. economy into a recession. U.S. Treasury yields have eased off their multiyear highs, indicating investor confidence in the economy.
The S&P 500 rose 70 points, or nearly 2%, to 3,655 as of 11:25 Eastern time. The Dow jumped 614 points, or 2.1%, to 29,375, while the Nasdaq was up 1.4%.
"[T]here are so many moving macro pieces in the world that it's easy to get discombobulated. U.S. equity investors should focus on what's most important: yields, inflation and growth,"analyst Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge said in a research note. "If Treasuries can rally for whatever reason (soft growth, soft inflation and/or some type of a Fed shift) it would act as an enormous tailwind for stocks."
More than 2 million federal employees face a looming deadline: By midnight on Thursday, they must decide whether to accept a "deferred resignation" offer from the Trump administration. If workers accept, according to a White House plan, they would continue getting paid through September but would be excused from reporting for duty. But if they opt to keep their jobs, they could get fired.
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.