Stocks Pause As Traders Reassess Interest Rate Path, Gold Makes New Highs, Bitcoin Rebounds: What's Driving Markets Thursday?

In the final session of the short trading week leading up to Easter festivities, U.S. equity indices held steady, reflecting some setbacks in market expectations regarding interest rate reductions.

On Wednesday, Fed Governor Christopher J. Waller spoke in opposition to an early interest rate cut, citing the still uncertain inflation path, and noted that his stance is shared by a robust share of the Fed board.

Thursday saw an upward revision to the fourth-quarter U.S. gross domestic product, with the economy expanding by 3.4% on an annualized basis, exceeding the previously estimated 3.2%.

Traders marginally scaled back their bets on a June rate cut scenario, now placing the likelihood at 64%, down from 70% on Wednesday, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

While the S&P 500 and the Dow remained unchanged for the day, the Nasdaq 100 eased by 0.2%, influenced by reduced rate cut expectations and increasing commodity prices that weighed on tech companies.

Gold surged to $2,225 per ounce intraday during midday trading in New York, reaching new all-time highs. WTI light crude prices climbed by 1.2% to $82.50 per barrel.

Bitcoin BTC/USD rebounded beyond $70,700, displaying remarkable resilience despite the pause in risk appetite toward stocks.

As we approach the final trading day of March, U.S. major averages are poised to conclude their fifth consecutive month of gains. Interestingly, this month has seen small caps, as tracked by the iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM, outperform large-cap indices.

Thursday’s Performance On Major US Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day %chg	MTD %chg
Russell 2000	2,127.97	0.6%	3.5%
S&P 500	5,255.38	0.0%	2.9%
Dow Jones	39,790.12	0.0%	2.0%
Nasdaq 100	18,261.57	-0.2%	1.2%

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was flat at $523.34, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA was unchanged at $397.73 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ eased 0.2% to $444.33, according to Benzinga Pro data. 

Sector-wise, the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE outperformed, up 0.9%, while the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLK was the laggard, down 0.2%.

Thursday’s Stock Movers

• Gold mining stocks rallied Thursday as the precious metal updated record highs. Newmont Corp. NEM was up 2.8%, Barrick Gold Corp. GOLD 2.2% and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. AEM 2.7%.
• Nikola Corp. NKLA surged by over 11%, fueled by rumors of a short squeeze circulating within the Reddit community.
• The Estée Lauder Company EL rose more than 6% after the company announced a deal with Amazon.com Inc. AMZN to distribute the Clinique brand through the retail giant’s platform.
• RH RH rose over 17% after reporting better-than-expected results last quarter.
• Other companies reacting to earnings were Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. WBA, up 2.5%, MSC Industrial Direct Company Inc. MSN down 2%, REX American Resources Corp. REX, up 30% and Perspective Therapeutics Inc. CATX, down 1%.
• Companies set to report after the close are Semtech Corp. SMTC, Oxford Industries Inc. OXM and Immunome Inc. IMNM.

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