Wall Street ends sharply higher as Powell cements September rate cut hopes
Fed's Powell says 'time has come' to cut interest rates
Small caps, regional banks surge
Workday jumps after Q2 revenue beat, $1 bln share buyback plan
Updates to market close
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Aug 23 (Reuters) -U.S. stocks rallied on Friday as dovish remarks from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell solidified expectations that the central bank will cut its key policy rate in September.
In highly anticipated comments before the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, Powell said "the time has come" to lower the Fed funds target rate, and "the upside risks of inflation have diminished."
"We do not see or welcome further weakening in labor market conditions," Powell added in a speech that appeared to all but guarantee a rate cut at next month's policy meeting, which would be the first such cut in over four years.
"The long wait is over," said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha, Nebraska. "This was the dovish shift that market participants have been waiting for."
"The Fed is clearly turning to the dovish camp and Powell has made it crystal clear that September will be the start of multiple rate cuts coming the remainder of this year," Detrick added.
All three major U.S. stock indexes jumped following the release of Powell's prepared remarks, with megacap growth stocks providing the most muscle.
Small caps .RUT and regional banks handily outperformed the broader market.
"Financials are at an all-time high, with a huge surge from regional banks," Detrick said. "One would think if a major calamity or a recession were on the horizon, regional banks and financials wouldn't be a strong as they’ve been."
All three indexes logged weekly advances, standing on the shoulders of last week's largest Friday-to-Friday percentage gains of the year.
Next week, the data-dependent Fed will have a raft of economic indicators to consider ahead of its September rate decision, including the Commerce Department's revised second-quarter GDP and its broad-ranging Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report, which includes the Fed's preferred inflation yardstick, the PCE price index.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 62.79 points, or 1.13%, to end at 5,633.43 points, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 258.44 points, or 1.47%, to 17,877.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 462.76 points, or 1.14%, to 41,168.47.
Workday WDAY.O beat quarterly revenue expectations and announced a $1 billion stock buyback plan, sending shares of the human resources software firm surging.
Ross Stores ROST.O advanced after the discount retailer raised its fiscal 2024 profit forecast.
Turbo Tax's parent Intuit INTU.O sagged in response to disappointing quarterly revenue.
Fed funds target rate and core PCE https://reut.rs/3MgiPg3
Reporting by Stephen Culp in New York
Additional reporting by Medha Singh and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru
Editing by Devika Syamnath and Matthew Lewis
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