“It’s hard to ignore that the dramatic shifts in rate-cut hopes have been the dominant market driver in recent weeks,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
All three major US indices climbed again, led by the tech-rich Nasdaq, which rose 0.8 percent.
Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital Management said the market could drift higher still if rate-cut expectations firm further.
Gains by small capitalisation companies and so-called “value” stocks are signs of a “healthy rotation out of the very narrow mega-cap tech stocks into a broader set of companies that will benefit from lower financing costs,” Ablin said.
Analysts also cited speculation that Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, could be President Donald Trump’s next Fed Chief as supportive of markets because of expectations Hassett would cut interest rates further.
Meanwhile, the Fed’s “beige book” of economic conditions around the United States pointed to a growing divergence in consumption, with lower-income populations pulling back.
“Overall consumer spending declined further, while higher-end retail spending remained resilient,” said the report, adding that some retailers felt a negative hit from the record-long government shutdown.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 314 points, or 0.7 percent, to 47,427, the S&P 500 gained 46 points, or 0.7 percent, to 6,812 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 189 points, or 0.8 percent, to 23,214. (AFP)
