The
Dow touched its all-time peak on Thursday, while the S&P 500 and
the tech-heavy Nasdaq also inched closer to their one-year
highs. The benchmark S&P was within a whisker of its Jan. 4 2022
intraday high.
The three main indexes also eyed their ninth straight weekly
gain as well as both monthly and quarterly advances.
They were set for double-digit gains in 2023, with the Nasdaq on
track for its strongest yearly jump since 2003, sharply
rebounding from a slump last year.
With the Fed's aggressive rate hikes cooling the U.S. labor
market as well as pressuring the economy, investors have
amplified their bets of rate cuts heading into 2024.
As per CME's FedWatch tool, the probability of policymakers
cutting the Fed funds target rate by 25 basis points in March
stood at 70.1%.
The year 2023 was marked by aggressive Fed rate hikes, which
were finally halted in September, the U.S. banking crisis in
March, an artificial intelligence stocks boom, the Israel-Hamas
war, economic concerns that eventually bolstered the case for
policy easing bets, among others.
The information technology is set to emerge as the top sectoral
gainer in 2023, up 56.8%, benefiting from an AI exuberance and a
surge in megacap stocks, while the defensive utilities sector
was the worst hit with a 10.1% decline.
Nvidia and Meta Platforms were the top annual gainers on the S&P
500, eyeing around three-fold gains.
Investors are winding down for the holiday season, with markets
staying shut on Monday, Jan. 1, on account of New Year's Day.
At 5:39 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 17 points, or 0.04%, S&P
500 e-minis were up 2.75 points, or 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100
e-minis were up 21.75 points, or 0.13%.
Among corporate movers, Uber Technologies and Lyft lost 1.3% and
4.8%, respectively, in premarket trading, on report that Nomura
downgraded the ride-sharing platforms.
(Reporting by Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini
Ganguli)
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