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Stock Market News for Aug 29, 2023

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U.S. stocks ended higher on Monday to start a fresh week as markets tried to bounce back amid a month of losses. Investors also looked forward to the key jobs and inflation report scheduled for release later this week as they tried to digest Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s cautious speech at the Jackson Hole. All three major indexes ended in positive territory.

How Did The Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) gained 0.6% or 213.08 points to close at 34,559.98 points.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% or 27.60 points, to end at 4,433.31 points. Communication services, tech, real estate and industrial stocks were the biggest gainers.

The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) rose 0.8%. The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR (XLC) gained 1.2%. The Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI) and the Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) each gained 0.8%. All 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in positive territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 0.8% or 114.48 points to finish at 13,705.13 points.

The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 3.83% to 15.08. A total of 8.1 billion shares were traded on Monday, lower than the last 20-session average of 10.8 billion.

Investors Optimistic Ahead of Release of Key Economic Data

Wall Street ended higher on Friday. On Monday, stocks picked up from where they left off after Powell maintained his hawkish stance and said that more interest rate hikes are on their way. However, investors tried to look at the brighter side in Powell’s Jackson Hoel speech as he also said that the economy is still growing at an impressive pace.

This made investors look past Powell’s comments that the inflation still remains elevated and more interest rate hikes can be implemented if required.

Both the Fed and the investors will now be closely watching the key jobs and inflation data scheduled for release later this week. The July personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, will be released on Thursday, followed by the nonfarm payrolls on Friday.

The July PCE reading and jobs data will decide how the indexes will move in what’s expected to be a week of light trading. 

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 are down 4.5% and 3.4% so far for the month, on track to record their worst monthly performance since December.

Treasury Yields Ease

Treasury yields eased on Monday after surging to a record high earlier last week. The 10-year Treasury yield dropped 10 basis points to end the session at 4.210%.

Monday’s rally was driven by tech stocks. Shares of Apple, Inc. ((AAPL - Free Report) ) and Meta Platforms, Inc. ((META - Free Report) ) gained 0.9% and 1.7%, respectively. Shares of NVIDIA Corporation ((NVDA - Free Report) ) rose 0.9%. NVIDIA sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Also, investors’ sentiments got a boost after China’s finance ministry and the stock-market regulator introduced new measures to attract investors to buy stocks. China’s stock-market regulator, on Monday, halved a tax on stock trades and limited sales by big stockholders in companies that haven’t paid enough dividends.

No major economic data was released on Monday.


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