Wall Street Close: Nasdaq refreshes record top as Fed’s Powell tones down tapering, rate-hike chatters

• US equity benchmarks post second consecutive daily gains, growth stocks lead the run-up.
• Fed Chair Powell and others raise employment issues to push back monetary policy adjustments.
• Mixed data, fears of US-China trade tussles 2.0 and Delta Plus covid probe bulls.
• Activity numbers to join qualitative factors to offer fresh directions.

Wall Street marked another positive day, led by Nasdaq, as US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials step back from last week’s hawkish rhetoric. Technology and the retail sector were major gainers as the growth outlook improves despite concerns over employment conditions.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell signaled the way out of the transitory inflation fears in a year and cooled down the market bulls. Earlier in the day, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and New York Fed President John Williams already cited employment as the hurdle to think before signaling any action. On the contrary, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly hints at tapering to begin this year or the next.

It should be observed that mixed figures of US housing and activity numbers and talks over the Sino-American trade deal, not to forget President Joe Biden’s infrastructure spending, couldn’t get any major response from the market players.

Against this backdrop, Nasdaq rises to the fresh all-time high of 14,269.80, before closing around 14,253.30, up 111.80 points or 0.79%. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) also followed the suit with 0.51% and 0.20% respective upsides to end the day around 4,246.43 and 33,945.58 in that order.

Stock-specific details suggest GameStop jumped 10% on another share sale whereas L Brands cheered the separation of Victoria’s Secret with a 5% upside. Further, FANG stocks also portrayed the market’s optimism whereas energy shares eased on the oil price pullback.

It’s worth noting that the US 10-year Treasury yields dropped 1.8 basis points (bps) and S&P 500 Futures struggle to extend gains amid a subdued Asian session by the press time.

Moving on, the preliminary numbers of the US activities in June and Fedspeak can keep entertaining markets going forward. Also important will be any major update on the Sino-American relations and/or US President Joe Biden’s infrastructure spending talks.

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