Wall St ends higher as Fed minutes, jobs data firm rate-cut hopes

[August 22, 2024]  By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. stocks advanced on Wednesday amid range-bound trading after investors parsed a steep downward revision in payrolls, and the release of the minutes from the most recent meeting of the Federal Reserve, which cemented expectations for a September rate cut.

All three major U.S. stock indexes closed modestly higher, with chips boosting the Nasdaq. The Dow's gains, weighted by financial stocks, were more muted.

"The seasonality of things, waiting for Jackson Hole, waiting to see whether there will be a Fed cut in September or not - it’s causing bulls and bears to sit on the sidelines," said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors in New York. "There’s no compelling reason to do anything right now."

The Fed released minutes from its July monetary policy meeting, at which members of the Federal Open Market Committee elected to keep the key interest rate unchanged.

The July meeting occurred before the disappointing employment report for that month and a host of economic reports pointing to cooling inflation and a softening but resilient economy.

Even so, the minutes suggest Fed officials were already strongly leaning toward a rate cut at the meeting scheduled for September.

They also set the stage for the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium to convene on Thursday, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell will speak on Friday.

In economic news, the Labor Department released its preliminary benchmark revision to payrolls data for the 12 months through March 2024.

The revision lowered the 2.9 million payroll adds originally reported by 818,000. It was the steepest preliminary downward revision since the global financial crisis, and suggested that the apparent softening in the labor market could be more pronounced than previously assumed.

"Prior to today’s labor market data, the enthusiasm around Powell’s speech (on Friday) was probably fairly muted," said Pursche. "That changed today.

"This revision, which was a big number, is putting Chairman Powell in a position where he's going to have to talk about the outlook for the labor market," Pursche added.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., June 14, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 55.52 points, or 0.14%, to 40,890.49, the S&P 500 gained 23.73 points, or 0.42%, to 5,620.85 and the Nasdaq Composite added 102.05 points, or 0.57%, to 17,918.99.

Nine of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 closed in positive territory, with consumer discretionary shares enjoying the largest percentage gains.

Target raised its 2024 profit forecast and posted its first quarterly increase in same-store sales in over a year, sending the retailer's stock surging 11.2%.

TJX Cos rose 6.1% after the discount retailer lifted its annual profit forecast.

Macy's lowered its annual net sales forecast, sending shares of the department store chain sliding 12.9%.

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com dropped 4.2% after Walmart, the company's biggest shareholder, sold its stake in the firm.

Ford Motor announced it was shaking up its electric vehicle plans. Its stock rose 1.6%.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 3.61-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.52-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 47 new 52-week highs and 1 new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 85 new highs and 65 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.86 billion shares, compared with the 12.06 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

(Reporting by Stephen Culp in New YorkAdditional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Johann M Cherian in BengaluruEditing by Matthew Lewis)

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