{"id":107913,"date":"2021-02-24T22:18:44","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T22:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=107913"},"modified":"2021-02-24T22:18:44","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T22:18:44","slug":"wall-street-finishes-up-as-feds-powell-soothes-inflation-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/wall-street-finishes-up-as-feds-powell-soothes-inflation-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"Wall Street finishes up as Fed's Powell soothes inflation fears"},"content":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Shares on Wall Street ended higher on Wednesday, as a selloff in technology-related stocks eased and a rotation into cyclical shares continued after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell\u2019s comments calmed inflation worries.<\/p> The Nasdaq index, which traded as much as 1.3% lower earlier in the session, regained its footing by early afternoon and closed up. The Dow hit a record high earlier in the session.<\/p>\n GameStop Corp stock, which was at the center of volatile moves in late January by shares talked about on a Reddit forum, more than doubled with no obvious catalyst. Volume was more than two times the 10-day moving average.<\/p>\n Powell told lawmakers on Wednesday it may take more than three years to reach the central bank\u2019s inflation goals, a sign the Fed plans leave interest rates unchanged for a long time to come.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s driving the stock market is the fiscal stimulus, the dovish Fed, the real strong, strong earnings that we\u2019re seeing, as well as the fact that we\u2019re going to have a third vaccine,\u201d said Richard Saperstein, chief investment officer at Treasury Partners.<\/p>\n The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday Johnson & Johnson\u2019s one-dose COVID-19 vaccine appeared safe and effective in trials, paving the way for its approval for emergency use as soon as this week.<\/p>\n Johnson & Johnson rose 1.3% following the news.<\/p>\n The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 424.51 points, or 1.35%, to 31,961.86, the S&P 500 gained 44.06 points, or 1.14%, to 3,925.43 and the Nasdaq Composite added 132.77 points, or 0.99%, to 13,597.97. All three main indexes were on track to post strong monthly gains, with the Dow and the S&P 500 set for their best month since November.<\/p>\n Investors have focused on rising U.S. yields and their potential impact on growth stocks. Saperstein said higher yields could pressure stocks but would not derail the upward trend.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe that the 10-year yield going from 1% to 1.5% is going to alter the calculus of owning large technology stocks,\u201d said Saperstein.<\/p>\n Value-oriented stocks have enjoyed a bit of a bounce recently, and the S&P 500 Value index rose for a fourth straight day.<\/p>\n The S&P 500 financial sector hit an all-time peak, while other cyclical stocks including industrials, energy and materials also rose.<\/p>\n The S&P 500 Growth index, which includes most of the high-flying technology-related stocks, has come under pressure in the last few days due to valuation concerns, elevated Treasury yields and an investment shift into more economy-sensitive parts of the market.<\/p>\n Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Apple Inc were down 0.4% to 1.1%, while Facebook, Netflix Inc and Alphabet Inc reversed earlier declines.<\/p>\n Growth-oriented stocks are particularly sensitive to rising yields as their value rests heavily on future earnings, which are discounted more deeply when bond returns go up.<\/p>\n Tesla Inc gained 6.2% after star investor Cathie Wood\u2019s Ark Invest fund bought a further $171 million worth of the company\u2019s shares in the wake of a sharp fall in the electric-car maker\u2019s stock.<\/p>\n Lowe\u2019s Cos Inc slid 3.7% as it stuck by its 2021 outlook of a $4 billion to $8 billion drop in revenue, even after reporting blow-out fourth quarter results.<\/p>\n Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.10-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.62-to-1 ratio favored advancers.<\/p>\n The S&P 500 posted 102 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 282 new highs and seven new lows.<\/p>\n Volume on U.S. exchanges was 13.68 billion shares, compared with the 16.01 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.<\/p>\n (This story fixes spelling error in headline)<\/p>\n