4.05pm: Wall Street extends gains at the close
Investors cheered as stocks ran strongly across the finish line at the close of Thursday's trading period. The S&P 500 posted its best day since July, up 1.2% to finish at 4,449 points, and the Dow added more than 500 points to close at 34,765 points, a 1.5% gain.
Over on the Nasdaq, the tech-heavy index ended the day up 1% to close at 15,024 points.
12.05 pm: Dow jumps more than 500 points as China Evergrande debt worries subside
US stocks rose sharply in noon trading, continuing yesterday’s rally, following the Federal Reserve's upbeat tone regarding the pace of the economic recovery as well as easing investor fears of debt in China’s property market.
At midday, the Dow jumped 530 points, or 1.6%, to 34,788, while the S&P 500 added 57 points at 4,452 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 145 points to 15,041.
“The Fed struck a positive tone, acknowledging that the economy is strong enough to stand on its own two feet and the central bank can begin removing the monetary stimulus that they’ve been providing since the beginning of the Covid crisis,” Independent Advisor Alliance chief investment officer Chris Zaccarelli said in a statement.
“Although there may be some additional turbulence this fall, we are constructive on the US economy in general and believe that any dips would be worth buying as the fundamentals are still sound and recession appears to be more than a year away at this point,” Zaccarelli added.
Notable movers included shares of Salesforce, which rose more than 5% after the cloud company raised its full-year 2022 revenue guidance.
11.40am: Proactive North America headlines:
Thunderbird Entertainment reveals new shows and provides update on busy production slate for 2021-2022
Vuzix says it is getting positive feedback on its Smart Glasses from a growing number of leading Chilean companies
CO2 GRO says several greenhouse growers express interest in its CO2 Delivery Solutions technology during virtual plant confab in Japan
ACME Lithium advances lithium brine targeting; starts phase II geophysical survey
Empower Clinics set to open new The Medi-Collective clinic in Ontario in October, one of 33 locations in the pipeline
The Good Shroom (TSX-V:MUSH) wins approval to sell its cannabis beverages and hash products in Quebec
Global Energy Metals welcomes latest MBK drill results from Millennium, which show potential to expand resource
Vicinity Motor wins over $15.5M in orders for 38 Vicinity Classic buses from Quebec transit operators
Numinus completes acquisition of Neurology Centre of Toronto
Versus Systems says University of Georgia Athletic Association using its technology to engage with over 90,000 Bulldogs fans in home games
Cloud Nine unveils Limitless Platform with initial release
Co-Diagnostics (NASDAQ:CODX) announces corporate rebranding after period of transformative growth and expansion
ESE Entertainment says Q3 was a “standout quarter” as revenue surges
Logiq expands its Logiq Digital Marketing platform to include geofencing-based targeting
Todos Medical launches Tollovid Daily via subscription model
Electric Royalties seeing "incredible" growth throughout its battery metal royalty portfolio, CEO says in a company update
HealthLynked (OTCQB:HLYK) names industry veteran Jeffrey Cohen as vice president of sales
Gevo set to boost value of its IP as it acquires Butamax patents
Clean Air Metals says total assets increased by $10.5M during first half of 2021
PharmaDrug's Super Smart launches Slim MycoWeRx brand of functional mushrooms
Mindset Pharma added to NYSE-listed AdvisorShares Psychedelics ETF
ElectraMeccanica (NASDAQ:SOLO) Vehicles appoints Kevin Pavlov as chief executive officer
Fury Gold Mines (TSX:FURY, NYSE:FURY) announces C$5 million non-brokered private placement
PsyBio Therapeutics submits its first pre-IND application meeting request to FDA
First Cobalt (TSX-V:FCC, OTCQX:FTSSF) starts drilling again at Iron Creek project as electric vehicle adoption in North America accelerates
Valeo Pharma announces record 3Q revenues and gross margins
New battery unveiled that can be recharged in same time it takes to refuel conventional car
Plurilock receives US$185,000 order from US Department of the Treasury
Else Nutrition hires former Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) executives as it continues its expansion
Gatling Exploration (TSX-V:GTR, OTCQB:GATGF) reveals a more than 1.3M ounce gold resource its Larder project in Ontario
Golden Arrow Resources kicks off RC drill program at Rosales copper project in Chile
BioVaxys gears up for study on reduced ACE2 binding capabilities of hapten-modified SARS-CoV-2 proteins
9:40am: US stocks rise at the opening bell
US benchmarks started Thursday in New York higher, recording a second day of gains after the Federal Reserve kept monetary stimulus intact and concerns about Chinese real estate giant Evergrande abated.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose around 342 points, or 1%, to 34,600, while the S&P 500 gained over 33 points at 4,429. The tech laden Nasdaq index added over 75 points at 14,972.
In London, gains were more muted, with the FTSE 100 rising 11 points, or 0.16%, to 7,095.
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said European markets are trading higher after the Fed delivered another lesson in how to gently massage markets into accepting that tightening is on its way. The FTSE 100 has recovered all its losses this week, back to the 7,100 area. Wall Street rallied on Wednesday on the Fed’s apparent lack of haste to taper, and didn’t worry that policymakers see rates lifting off sooner than previously indicated.
"The Federal Reserve gave the market plenty to think about but didn’t cause a tantrum," Wilson said.
"Jay Powell continues to walk the line between guiding the market to expect tightening without unduly worrying investors. The overall feeling was giving with one hand and taking with the other; for instance inflation was revised higher but unemployment and growth moderating. The Fed is hedging its bets a bit but overall it’s leaning in towards tightening – the question is whether it starts to lean in more as inflation sticks."
7.05am: US futures add to gains following Fed meeting
US stock futures are moving higher on Thursday following gains in the previous session after the US Federal Reserve suggested its monetary stimulus policy will remain intact until 2022 and as China Evergrande worries ease.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average are up 131 points, while S&P 500 futures are trading more than 19 points higher. The Nasdaq exchange is ahead by around 72 points.
At the end of its two-day Federal Open Market Committee Meeting (FOMC), the Fed left its key policy rate steady, with chair Jerome Powell saying a taper to quantitative easing will begin ‘soon’ and be completed by mid-2022.
Nine of the 18 FOMC participants now forecast the first rate hike next year, up from seven previously, as they raise their inflation forecasts and assess risks to be skewed heavily to the upside.
“With concerns about possible contagion risks stemming from China Evergrande’s troubles easing, Wall Street went into the Fed meeting on the front foot with the S&P500 up around 1%,” Daiwa Capital Markets analyst Chris Scicluna commented.
“And following a few minor post-Fed gyrations, that is where the index closed, thus erasing about a third of the decline seen over the previous four sessions.
“With Treasury yields having already trended modestly higher of late as investors seemingly positioned for a slightly more hawkish Fed, the bond market reaction to the Fed’s latest prognostication was muted.”
Five more things to look out for on Thursday:
Data on initial jobless claims for the latest week will be released at 8:30 am Eastern Time. Analysts expect jobless claims to decline to 309,000 for the September 18 week from 332,000 in the previous week.
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for August is scheduled for release at 8:30 am, while the flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index for September will be released at 9:45 am.
While less followed than the long-running ISM indexes, the flash Markit PMIs for September are expected to be of interest, especially the services PMI after it declined to an eight-month low of 55.1 in August.
The Conference Board will release its leading index for August while the Kansas City Fed’s manufacturing survey for September are also due.
Nike Inc’s shares rose 1.6% in premarket trading ahead of its fiscal 2022 first-quarter results.