Rising above the noise, US stocks gain ground
Major U.S. stock indexes end higher, Dow out front
Utilities lead S&P sector gainers; Comm Svcs weakest group
Dollar, gold rise; crude up >2%; bitcoin nears $100k
U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield edges up to ~4.42%
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RISING ABOVE THE NOISE, US STOCKS GAIN GROUND
Wall Street ended a choppy day in the green on Thursday as investors mulled a raft of upbeat earnings against commentary by Federal Reserve officials, mixed economic data and geopolitical uncertainties growing from simmer to boil.
The mixed session turned more optimistic as the session progressed, driven by solid earnings results from Nvidia NVDA.O and Deere DE.N.
However, among the "magnificent seven" group of AI-adjacent growth stocks, all but Nvidia closed lower, capping the tech-heavy Nasdaq's gains.
Salesforce CRM.N helped boost the Dow's .DJI lead in the wake of multiple target price hikes from the likes of Stifel, Oppenheimer, JP Morgan and more.
Chips .SOX, regional banks .KRX, small caps .RUT and mid caps .IDX were outperformers, while consumer discretionary .SPLRCD and communication services .SPLRCL, weighed down by Alphabet GOOGL.O and Amazon.com AMZN.O, respectively, were the laggards.
On the data front, solid home sales and low jobless claims underscored U.S. economic strength, a topic touched upon by a plethora of Fed officials, who have suggested that while the central bank has more rate cuts in its quiver, they are in no rush to put them to use.
Earlier on Thursday, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee reiterated his support for further cuts, but said the speed and the extent of those cuts remain an open question.
Financial markets are currently baking in a 55.9% likelihood of another 25 basis point reduction to the key Fed funds target at the conclusion of the Fed's December meeting, down from 72.2% a week ago, according to CME's FedWatch tool.
Third quarter earnings season has come around to the final stretch and is sprinting toward the finish line, with only a couple dozen companies in the S&P 500 .SPX yet to report.
At this point, 76% have beaten expectations and analysts believe year-over-year aggregate S&P 500 earnings growth for the July-September period will be 8.8%, a solid improvement over the 5.3% estimate as of October 1, according to the latest available LSEG data.
Here's your closing snapshot:
(Stephen Culp)
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FOR THURSDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:
CASH MAY BE ON THE SIDELINES, BUT IT'S NOT THE CAVALRY - CLICK HERE
MIDCAPS LOOK PROMISING - KOSTIN - CLICK HERE
THURSDAY DATA BUFFET: HOME SALES, JOBLESS CLAIMS, ET AL - CLICK HERE
S&P 500 DIPS AS ALPHABET DROPS; NVIDIA FLAT AFTER RESULTS, FORECAST - CLICK HERE
CFRA SETS 2025 YEAR-END S&P 500 TARGET AT 6,585 - CLICK HERE
INDIAN EQUITIES ARE PRIMED FOR A DRAB FEW MONTHS, GS SAYS - CLICK HERE
BUYBACKS TO HELP LAGGING EUROPE - CLICK HERE
HOPE YOU'RE KEEPING UP - CLICK HERE
EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: BUSY BUSY - CLICK HERE
Closing snapshot https://reut.rs/40Yvuwx
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