S&P 500 Reclaims All-Time Highs As Powell Hints At Rate Cuts, Nvidia Breaks $900, Bitcoin Nears Record Levels: What's Driving Market Thursday?

The S&P 500 soared past the 5,150-point mark during midday trading in New York, reclaiming its record-high territory set earlier in the week. This surge was propelled by reassuring comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell regarding potential interest rate declines.

Addressing the Senate Banking Committee, Powell indicated that the Fed is not too far from being confident enough to cut rates suggesting a growing inclination among policymakers to initiate easing policy this year.

Powell’s statements injected fresh optimism into the markets, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 climbing to 18,290, nearing its previous record of 18,333 points achieved just days prior.

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The Magnificent Seven, monitored through the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF MAGS, rallied by 2%, led by standout performances from Meta Platforms META, which surged by 4%, and Nvidia Corp. NVDA, climbing by 3.5% and surpassing the $900 per share milestone.

Meanwhile, Treasury yields experienced a slight decline, while the dollar weakened by 0.4%, heading towards its lowest closing level since mid-January.

In Europe, the European Central Bank (ECB) opted to maintain interest rates at their current levels. However, ECB President Christine Lagarde struck a cautious tone during the press conference, emphasizing that discussions on rate cuts had not taken place during the meeting. Lagarde also underscored the independence of Frankfurt’s decision-making process from that of the Fed and highlighted the need for increased confidence before considering any policy adjustments.

Gold continued its upward trajectory, notching new record highs, now surpassing $2,155 per ounce and marking its eighth consecutive session of gains.

In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin BTC/USD saw a 2.6 percent increase, reaching $67,840 per coin and inching closer to its all-time high, now less than 2 percent away.

Chart of The Day: S&P 500 Breaks All-Time Highs Again, Up 9% Year To Date

Thursday’s Performance In US Major Indices, ETFs

Major Indices & ETFs	Price	1-Day %
Nasdaq 100	18,272.45	1.4%
S&P 500	5,149.52	0.9%
Russell 2000	2,078.83	0.8%
Dow Jones	38,730.95	0.2%

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY rose 0.9% to $514.40, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA surged 0.2% to $387.99 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ rallied 1.5% to $445.43, according to Benzinga Pro data. 

The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund XLC, was the best performer, up by 1.8%, while the Financials Select Sector SPDR Fund XLF trailed, declining by 0.4%. 

Thursday’s Stock Movers

• ON Semiconductor Corp. ON surged by over 8% following a recent analysis by Bank of America, which unveiled that the stock experienced one of the most substantial increases in overweight positions among active managers.
• Novo Nordisk A/S NVO surged by almost 10% after revealing promising early data on its experimental obesity drug, demonstrating significant weight loss. The Danish pharmaceutical company has now exceeded the market capitalization of Tesla Inc. TSLA.
• New York Community Bancorp NYCB surged by more than 7% after Fitch Ratings reaffirmed its ratings, prompted by the company’s announcement of a capital investment exceeding $1 billion from various firms.
• Avangrid Inc. AGR soared by 12.6% following its disclosure of a non-binding offer from its parent company, Iberdrola, to take the company private at $34.25 per share.
• Victoria’s Secret & Co. VSCO plummeted by 30% following the release of its quarterly earnings report.
• The Kroger Company KR rose 9% after reporting a better-than-expected profit last quarter.
• Other stocks reacting to earnings were ABM Industries Incorporated ABM, up by nearly 5%, American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. AEO, up by 3%, Bilibili Inc. BILI, down by 2%, BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. BJ, up by 6.7%, Burlington Stores, Inc. BURL, up by 6%, Ciena Corporation CIEN, down by 14%, and FuelCell Energy, Inc. FCEL, down by 7%.
• Companies reporting after the close include BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. BBAI, Broadcom Inc. AVGO, DocuSign, Inc. DOCU, Costco Wholesale Corporation COST, Gap, Inc. GPS, Samsara Inc. IOT, Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. SWBI and MongoDB, Inc. MDB.

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Image created using artificial intelligence with Midjourney.