Wall Street jumps with rosy outlooks from companies
Send a link to a friend
[March 30, 2023] By
Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday, with all three
major indexes ending up at least 1% as upbeat outlooks from Micron
Technology and other companies eased some worries about the health of
the economy.
In a sign of potential further strength, the S&P 500 also closed above
its 50-day moving average for the first time since March 6, before the
onset of the bank crisis, and the CBoe volatility index, Wall Street's
fear gauge, ended at its lowest level since March 8.
Micron shares shot up 7.2%, boosting the Nasdaq and S&P 500, and leading
gains in the PHLX semiconductor index, which closed 3.3% higher.
The memory chip maker late Tuesday forecast a drop in third-quarter
revenue in line with Wall Street expectations, while it gave a rosy
outlook for 2025 with artificial intelligence boosting sales.
Adding to the optimism, Lululemon Athletica Inc jumped 12.7% after an
upbeat annual results forecast.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/30/images/ads/current/applegate_sda_SFARM_2023.png)
"We had a couple of good reads into the economy from a couple of
companies," said King Lip, chief investment strategist at BakerAvenue
Wealth Management in San Francisco.
"Micron is sort of a microcosm of the global economy because their chips
go into so many different industries and sectors. If they are optimistic
about things in terms of orders, that means the overall economy is doing
well."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/30/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif)
The bulk of S&P 500 companies begin reporting on the first quarter in
mid-April.
Investors are also trying to gauge whether turmoil in the banking system
may be subsiding, and what that may mean for Federal Reserve policy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 323.35 points, or 1%, to 32,717.6,
the S&P 500 gained 56.54 points, or 1.42%, to 4,027.81 and the Nasdaq
Composite added 210.16 points, or 1.79%, to 11,926.24.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/033023PIX/busine21.jpg)
Traders work on the floor of the New
York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 28, 2023.
REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/30/images/ads/current/openarms_inside_EASTER_2023.png)
"People are feeling a little more comfortable with each day that
passes since we had the failures," said Michael O’Rourke, chief
market strategist at JonesTrading in Stamford, Connecticut.
The banking turmoil, which started earlier in March with the
collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, caused a swift selloff in the
sector shares and fueled jitters about the strength of the economy.
On Monday, regional U.S. lender First Citizens BancShares scooped up
the assets of Silicon Valley Bank.
Michael Barr, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision, told Congress the
scope of blame for Silicon Valley Bank's failure stretches across
bank executives.
Investors are awaiting Personal Consumption Expenditures data on
Friday for further clues on inflation. The Fed has been raising
interest rates to bring down inflation.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
3.86-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.15-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 9 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq
Composite recorded 69 new highs and 135 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.61 billion shares, compared with the
12.73 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading
days.
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by Amruta
Khandekar and Ankika Biswas; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Vinay
Dwivedi, and Aurora Ellis)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/30/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png) |