Tag: Dow Jones

S&P 500 falls most in five months, Nasdaq slumps 2% post Fed decision

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Stocks saw their biggest decline on a Federal Reserve day since last March after Jerome Powell said officials want to keep their options open instead of rushing to cut interest rates.

Speaking after the Fed decision, Powell said he doesn’t think it’s likely the central bank will ease policy in March 2024. In a sign that officials are not in a hurry to lower rates, the central bank also said it “does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%.”

“If stock bulls expected a rate cut in March, Powell seems to have closed the door on that,” said Oscar Munoz at TD Securities.

The S&P 500 fell 1.6%, the most since September. Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc. slumped after disappointing investors betting that an artificial-intelligence bonanza would quickly fuel results. After the close, Qualcomm Inc. warned that some customers are still working through gluts of chip inventory even as the industry begins to recover.

Treasuries rose as fresh concerns about regional lenders added to economic worries after New York Community Bancorp’s surprise loss.

Data Wednesday showed a broad gauge of US labor costs cooled by more than forecast in a fresh sign of easing inflation pressures that give Fed officials room to cut interest rates this year. A separate report from the ADP Research Institute showed companies added a smaller-than-expected 107,000 jobs in January, and worker pay growth slowed.

The market has been too quick to dismiss the threat posed by inflation after a “miraculous” decline toward central bank targets, said Greg Peters at PGIM Fixed Income. He’s worried that the hardest part of the fight against inflation is still ahead, implying plenty more market volatility and a potential wake-up call for bondholders betting on deep interest-rate cuts this year.

Despite Wednesday’s losses, the S&P 500 capped its third straight monthly advance.

As goes January, so goes the year. That’s the theory of a phenomenon known as the “January Barometer” — Wall Street folklore positing that if stocks rise in January, they’ll be poised to finish the year higher, and vice versa. Since 1938, the January Barometer has been right about 74% of the time, with the next 11 months higher 67% of the time, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac.

One of Wall Street’s most prominent bears is now expecting gains in the US equity market to broaden into less loved corners than the big tech companies that have dominated the rally so far.

Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson, who stuck with his prediction of a stock market decline last year while the S&P 500 Index surged 24%, sees opportunities in names outside the so-called Magnificent 7 companies that have powered equity gains through much of 2023. He’s urging investors to buy high-quality, growth names that can generate pricing power.

“In the stock world, I think once again, it’s going to be idiosyncratic — I don’t think it’s going to be as narrow as last year,” Wilson said Tuesday afternoon at the iConnections Global Alts conference in Miami Beach. “The big index is full, it’s priced. For all intents and purposes, the value is not there. The value is underneath the market.”

Meantime, the US Treasury boosted the size of its quarterly issuance of longer-term debt for a third straight time, and suggested that no more increases are likely until next year. Relief from further boosts to auction sizes for longer-term securities may help support demand for Treasuries. Investors for several months now have been particularly sensitive to news on the overall supply of federal debt, at a time when the Fed has been steadily shrinking its own holdings of US securities.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

S&P 500 tops 4,900, closes at a fresh record as yields fall on treasury news

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Wall Street’s busy week kicked off with gains in both stocks and bonds, with the Treasury surprising several traders after cutting its quarterly borrowing estimate to $760 billion.

The news came a few days before the Treasury’s quarterly refunding announcement and drew investors’ attention amid all the concern about a widening budget deficit. Treasury yields fell, lifting the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 up 1% ahead of results from five megacaps that have a combined market value of more than $10 trillion. Aside from the deluge of earnings this week, investors are also awaiting the Federal Reserve’s rate decision and a raft of data from consumer confidence to jobs.

“This week could be key,” said Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley. “If the market is going to sustain its latest breakout, it may need to avoid earnings disappointments from this week’s big-tech lineup, get encouraging news from the Fed on interest rates, and see jobs numbers that are solid, but not too hot.”

The S&P 500 topped 4,900, with Tesla Inc. leading gains in megacaps. Amazon.com Inc. abandoned its planned $1.4 billion acquisition of iRobot Corp., sinking shares of the Roomba maker. Treasury 10-year yields dropped seven basis points to 4.07%. Oil fell after last week’s rally pushed futures into overbought territory. At the same time, ample crude supplies outweighed military escalation in the Middle East.

This week also marks the busiest this season for earnings, with results from Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc., Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. As most of the megacaps remain in record territory, there are concerns that investors are over- exposed to just a handful of stocks, which could open the door for some pain if quarterly results underwhelm.

The next few days will be crucial to determine whether stock valuations — particularly those of megacap US technology companies — are sustainable given that investors are pricing in significant earnings growth expectations in anticipation of rate cuts coming sooner than Fed officials project, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Marko Kolanovic.

“The 800-pound gorillas all report this week,” said Paul Nolte at Murphy & Sylvest Wealth Management. “Expect to see some market volatility around those earnings. Combined with a Fed meeting, this week could be a wild ride as we head into February.”

After a bit of a rocky start to the year, the S&P 500 went on to cap a third straight weekly advance — and is now up almost 20% since late October.

In the week through January 23, a ratio of bulls to bears identified in an Investors Intelligence survey of newsletter writers was hovering at the highest since 2021, when stocks neared a prior peak before the 2022 bear market, Yardeni Research analysis shows. Another signal of elevated bullishness was evident in a weekly survey of retail investors by the American Association of Individual Investors.

Dan Wantrobski at Janney Montgomery Scott is on the watch for further “profit-taking” or “consolidation” in leadership areas — which remain overbought on a short-term basis, according to him.

Going into this week’s two-day Fed policy meeting, investors are assigning roughly even odds to the prospect that the central bank will start lowering borrowing costs at its next decision in March.

That makes Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference, and any signal he may or may not choose to send, of critical importance. It all comes down to how officials have been reading the recent spate of economic data. On one hand, inflation numbers continue to surprise to the downside. On the other, consumer spending continues to be surprisingly robust.

“The Fed could justifiably signal a March cut,” said Robert Teeter at Silvercrest Asset Management. “Nonetheless, we expect the Fed to back away from taking action in March, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for future cuts predicated on the removal of excessively restrictive rates.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US stocks close at a new record high as inflation expectations hit the lowest in over 3 years

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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S&P 500, a benchmark index for US stocks, closed at an all-time high on Friday (January 19) after economic data stoked hopes that there’s room for the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in 2024.

Inflation expectations in the US for the year ahead fell to 2.9%, the lowest since December 2020. The yield on the 10-year benchmark bonds in the US slipped to 4.13%.

Yields on the 10-year bond drop when investor confidence is high, and when investor confidence drops, the bond prices rise, and yields fall.

The tech index gained 2.35% on Friday, and more than 4% for the week, making it the S&P 500′s best-performing sector for the week.

Nasdaq, another benchmark index, which has a big concentration of tech stocks like Apple, Amazon and Microsoft,  is still 4% below its all-time high.

CME Group data indicates that traders on Wall Street expect less than a 50% chance of a rate cut by the US Federal Reserve in March. and see improved chances of of five rate cuts this year by the American central bank.

Shares of Meta hit a new record high on Friday, adding to the 200% rally in the stock last year. The stock has gained 3.59% in value, adding over $3 billion to investor wealth, just in the last five trading days.

Meta investors are excited with founder Mark Zuckerberg’s revelation that the tech giant will have 350,000 Nvidia’s H100 graphics cards by the end of the year, reinforcing the confidence among investors that the company’s investing big money to further its ambitious projects in artificial intelligence.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Big tech aids Nasdaq’s best single-day gain in two months, Boeing tumbles

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A rally in big tech sent US stocks higher at the start of a week that will bring key inflation data and bank earnings.

The Nasdaq 100 outperformed, with Nvidia Corp. surging after announcing new products to help the personal computer industry lure consumers with artificial-intelligence PCs. Boeing Co. sank as its 737 Max 9 model was temporarily grounded by authorities. Treasury yields fell alongside the dollar. Oil slid to around $70.

Equities rebounded after mixed US economic data capped a week that saw equities sink the most since October on bets the Federal Reserve was in no rush to cut rates.

“The valuation-led year-end rally pulled potential gains from 2024 into 2023, making this a tricky year to prognosticate — especially as data are becoming more mixed and futures markets show that Fed rate cuts are already factored in,” said Robert Teeter, managing director of Silvercrest Asset Management.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 rose 1.4% as of 4 PM New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.1%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%
• The MSCI World index rose 0.9%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
• The euro rose 0.1% to $1.0956
• The British pound rose 0.3% to $1.2753
• The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 144.14 per dollar

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

‘Bull run in global equities is just starting,’ Atul Suri expects 18-20% upside in major US indices

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Atul Suri, CEO of Marathon Trends PMS believes a bull run is global equities is just beginning and it wouldn’t be surprising to see major US indices such as the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and NASDAQ gaining nearly 18-20% from current levels.

Suri highlighted the favourable conditions for such a bull run calling it a Goldilocks scenario, where inflation cools off, and recessionary concerns are put aside. He expects industrials sector to lead the next leg of the rally.

Also Read | Trade Setup for December 27: Can this Santa rally take the Nifty towards 21,600?

Suri pointed out that India is probably the first market to break out to lifetime highs, adding, “I think in a scenario where global markets have about 18 to 20% upside, I don’t think that India is going to lag in a big way.”

Next year, Suri expects India to witness its largest ever foreign institutional investment (FII) inflows along with steady domestic investments and Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) flows seen this year. This will be aided by changing global financial conditions such as decreasing bond yields.

For more details, watch the accompanying video

Also, catch all the live updates on markets with CNBC-TV18.com’s blog

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

S&P 500 logs its worst day in two months as global rally stalls

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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High-flying stocks notched one of their worst days in months Wednesday after Wall Street warned of a pullback on the rally ignited by the Federal Reserve’s pivot last week.

The Nasdaq 100 ended the session down 1.5%, the biggest one-day drop in eight weeks, as the tech-heavy benchmark drew back from its latest all-time high. The S&P 500 fell at a similar pace in its steepest drop since September 26.

Some in the market speculated that expiring zero-day options traded Wednesday helped accelerate the sell-off as options dealers sold more to rebalance their positions before expiration.

Relative strength readings on the gauges had been trading at levels typically seen before a decline. Wall Street’s fear gauge — the VIX — also rose sharply, it has been trading near multi-year lows.

Newedge Wealth’s Cameron Dawson warned of the market risks.

“It certainly looks like it has become very one-sided, and it is a scary world when everybody gets on one side of the boat,” the chief investment officer of Newedge Wealth, told Bloomberg Television. “The market is very extended, we do see it being very overbought. But we’re in this melt-up period and so oftentimes things can get even sillier before they really do have a pullback.”

Jim Caron, portfolio solutions CIO at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, was also cautious looking ahead to the new year. “It’s going to get a lot rockier and a lot more uncertain into the future.”

Treasuries powered ahead with the yield on the policy-sensitive two-year notching a 10 basis point move, the 10-year rate fell to 3.9%. British 10-year debt led the global bond rally following data showing a slowdown in UK inflation.

Traders also digested data showing US consumer confidence in December rose by the most since early 2021 on Wednesday. The second-straight monthly increase showed Americans were less concerned about a recession, but economists are still keeping a wary eye on the jobs market.

“While a sustained improvement in confidence would be a positive signal about consumer attitudes and spending, a loosening in labor market conditions owing to a restrictive policy stance is likely to weigh on demand, consumption and growth going forward,” Rubeela Farooqi at High Frequency Economics wrote.

Separately, sales of previously owned US homes edged higher in November off of a 13-year low, according to a National Association of Realtors report, earlier data showed mortgage rates fell to their lowest since June.

Some of Wall Street’s biggest bulls heading into 2023 remained undaunted at the prospect of more strength next year. Fundstrat Global Advisors LLC’s Tom Lee, who came closest to predicting the trajectory of the S&P 500 for this year among strategists tracked by Bloomberg, sees the benchmark hitting 5,200 in 2024.

Investors are also starting to weigh risks stemming from potential shipping delays and freight cost increases, as companies divert cargoes away from the Red Sea to avoid militant attacks. This rerouting will mean higher shipping costs and longer delivery time, Bloomberg Economics wrote in a note.

The focus now turns to upcoming data readouts, including Thursday’s GDP print and Friday’s data on personal consumption expenditures — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

S&P 500 reports one of its best November gains in a century

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Wall Street saw a late-day rebound, with stocks notching one of their biggest November rallies on record, fueled by speculation the Federal Reserve will put an end to its aggressive hiking campaign.

After this month’s $3 trillion surge, the S&P 500 is now just 5% away from its all-time high. The US equity benchmark climbed over 8% in November — a feat achieved fewer than 10 times during that same month since 1928, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

It was also the gauge’s biggest monthly gain since July 2022. Treasuries lost steam after a historic rally. The dollar closed higher, but posted its worst month in a year.

US consumer spending, inflation and the labor market all cooled in recent weeks — adding to evidence that growth is gradually slowing. The core personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred gauge of underlying inflation, met economists’ estimates.

“This is likely to cement expectations that the monetary policy inflection point is close, and the Fed will make at least one rate cut in the first six months of 2024,” said Sonu Varghese, global macro strategist at Carson Group. “Fed officials have already acknowledged that inflation is easing, and that can happen in the face of a strong economy and low unemployment, essentially laying the groundwork for rate cuts.”

In a favorable sign for equity optimists, a Bloomberg Intelligence model known as the Economic Regime Index shows that the worst of America’s macro pains appear to have passed.

The index dropped back into recession territory last month after showing nearly a full rebound earlier this year from its trough in late 2022. While the model still signals potential economic weakness ahead, as long as it stays above its lows the outlook is favorable for the S&P 500, says Gina Martin Adams, chief equity strategist at BI.

Traders also continued to keep a close eye on the latest remarks from US officials. Fed Bank of New York President John Williams reiterated the benchmark lending rate is at or near its peak and said policy is “quite restrictive.” His San Francisco counterpart Mary Daly said rates are in a “very good place” to control inflation, though she’s not thinking about cuts and that it was too soon to say if hikes are finished.

“It is still too early to eliminate the tightening bias in the Fed’s forward guidance,” said Brian Rose, senior US economist at UBS Global Wealth Management. “Fed Chair Jerome Powell will make a public appearance on Friday, and we expect him to be careful to avoid sounding too dovish.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US markets, bonds rise on hopes that Federal Reserve tightening is over

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Wall Street rallied on Wednesday, beginning the new month on a positive note and staging a rebound after posting its third straight negative month in October.

The move came after the US Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged for the second time in a row, leading investors to believe that the central bank may stay put for the rest of the year.

Overnight, the Dow Jones gained over 220 points, while the S&P 500 gained 1% and also briefly crossed its 200-Day Moving Average. The Nasdaq gained 1.6%.

The Fed kept rates in a range of 5.25% to 5.5%, as was widely expected. The central bank also said “economic activity expanded at a strong pace in the third quarter.” In previous remarks, it noted the economy was growing at a “solid pace.”

“Given the recent rise in yields, the Fed is less likely to raise rates in December, with the possibility of raising them later to keep reducing inflation,” said Damanick Dantes, portfolio strategist at Global X.

However, Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the post-decision press conference would not rule out a hike next month, saying that the idea that it would be difficult to raise rates after pausing for two meetings was wrong.

In some other data, the ISM manufacturing index showed manufacturing activity contracted more than expected in October. The US treasury is also set to auction $112 billion in debt next week, matching Wall Street expectations.

Last month, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield hit a 16-year high as investors feared the Fed would keep interest rates higher for longer.

(With Inputs From Agencies.)

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Dow Jones turns negative for the year as interest rates spike, posts worst day since March

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Benchmark indices fell overnight on Wall Street as Treasury yields hit the highest level since 2007, raising concern higher interest rates would freeze the housing market and tip the economy into a recession.

The Dow Jones fell over 400 points for its worst day since March this year. The 30-stock index also turned negative for 2023. On the other hand, the S&P 500 fell 1.4 percent, touching a three-month low in intraday trading, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell nearly 2 percent as growth stocks saw some of the biggest losses due to higher rates.

For 2023, the S&P 500 is still up 10 percent, while the Nasdaq is up 25 percent despite the drop. The Cboe Volatility Index, better known as the VIX, popped above the psychologically important 20 level for the first time in four months.

The 10-year Treasury yield touched 4.8 percent, reaching its highest level in 16 years. The benchmark yield has surged in the past month as the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates at a higher level for longer. The 30-year Treasury yield hit 4.925 percent, also the highest since 2007. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage neared 8 percent.

A surprising increase in US job openings, something Jerome Powell has been watching as the Federal Reserve tries to tame stubbornly high inflation, further added to the pain. His lieutenants have been hammering the theme that interest rates will need to stay high for a long period — Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and Atlanta Fed chief Raphael Bostic reiterated it over in the past two days — sending long-term Treasury yields to 16-year highs.

“It doesn’t seem like stock investors want to get in front of the daily spike in rates,” said Dan Eye, chief investment officer at Fort Pitt Capital Group. “The interest-rate environment needs to calm down before investors can focus on earnings season being a potential catalyst for stocks to move either higher or lower.”

Seasonal weakness is “pretty normal” for the market in September and October, according to Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance. However, he noted that ongoing concerns about higher interest rates could mean more downside is ahead for stocks.

The rout on Tuesday was the seventh loss of at least 1 percent since August, after just three in the second quarter. The stock market’s put-to-call ratio — a gauge of tracking the volume of bearish versus bullish options — has stayed above 1 for seven out of nine days.

Other signs of stress are mounting. The S&P 500 is less than 30 points above its average price over the past 200 days, and breaching that level could set off sharp declines. The index has been over it for 137 sessions, the longest run since the post-pandemic surge that started in June 2020.

(With Inputs From Agencies.)

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Explained | Why Wall Street had its best week since June

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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US stock markets just closed their week with sharp gains after the latest official data showed that unemployment in the world’s biggest economy hit the highest point in more than a year. 

For the S&P 500, this was the best week since June. Wall Street is, essentially, cheering for signs that the US economy is, finally, slowing down.

The US has been gripped by debilitating inflation since a few months after the pandemic. The Federal Reserve has been trying to tame it with interest rate hikes but the needle didn’t move significantly, until, it seems, now. 

Consumer price inflation in the US was at 4.3 percent in July 2023, down from the peak of 5.4 percent in February 2022 but far, far away from the two percent mark US Federal Reserve has been aiming for. In the meantime, US interest rates are at their highest in 22 years, making lives tougher for both individual borrowers as well as businesses. 

One of the reasons being cited for the sticky inflation is that there are more jobs in the US than there are people looking for them. And, that trend continued in August. The 187,000 jobs added in the US economy last month was more than what the market had expected. 

However, the steady rise in wages, while at 4.3%, was just a tad bit softer than what the analysts had estimated. The market seemed to take this as an indication that the pricing pressure on businesses may be starting to ease. 

If these numbers, the growth in jobs and wages in America, were any higher than what came through for the month of August, it would have been a sign that Jerome Powell, the chief of the American central bank, may have to hike interest rates further amidst a cost of living crisis.

Now, after the latest data, the CME Group’s FedWatch tool showed traders expect a 93% chance of that interest rates in the US may remain unchanged when the Fed officials for a review on September 19 and 20.

Earlier on August 21, Robert Sockin of Citi and Steven Englander, from Standard Chartered Bank, predicted that the US Fed may leave interest rates unchanged in the upcoming review. At he same time, the two experts emphasised the point that the US economy will have to live with high interest rates for much longer time.  Watch the following interview to understand why.

But not everyone thinks that the trend of rising interest rates in the US is over.  “Even though trends in inflation are moving the right direction and a broader view of the employment market would indicate wage pressures should abate, overall economic growth is above trend and inflation remains well above the Fed’s recently confirmed 2% target,” Steve Wyett, chief investment strategist at BOK Financial, told CNBC on September 1. 

Why is this data important for Indian investors?

Rising interest rates in America make the US dollar more attractive and, therefore, the rupee weaker. If the rupee-dollar exchange rate weakens, it makes imports more expensive and India is a net importer of some crucial items like crude oil. 

If it costs more dollars to bring crude oil into India, it will make everything else more expensive because the fuel needed to transport everything from crops to consumer goods will get dearer. India, too, is faced with biting inflation. The latest data for July showed that prices have gone beyond the tolerance level set by the Reserve Bank of India. 

If this trend continues, the RBI too will have to get back to hiking rates —  it’s on pause right now —  and that would increase borrowing costs for businesses in India. All else remaining equal, it’s reasonable to expect some of the Wall Street cheer to reflect on the Sensex and Nifty 50 (India’s benchmark indices for stocks) when the markets reopen for trade on Monday (September 4). 

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow