U.S. Stocks Tick Higher As Tech Stocks Rally -- Update
September 11 2019 - 03:48PM
Dow Jones News
By Akane Otani and Anna Isaac
Rallying technology shares drove U.S. stock indexes higher
Wednesday, putting the Dow Jones Industrial Average on track to
post its sixth consecutive session of gains.
The blue-chip index climbed 138 points, or 0.5%, to 27048. The
S&P 500 ticked up 0.4%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite
advanced 0.8%.
With not much economic data on the docket for Wednesday,
analysts said they were looking ahead to central bank meetings in
the coming days. Both the European Central Bank and Federal Reserve
are expected to cut interest rates in September.
"We're waiting to see policy makers react to stabilize growth,"
said Shawn Snyder, head of investment strategy at Citi Personal
Wealth Management.
Because there is still so much uncertainty around the path of
U.S.-China trade talks, "it's hard to judge what the economic
outlook is," Mr. Snyder said, though he added that Citi doesn't
expect a bear market in stocks in the near term.
Gains among technology shares helped push major indexes higher,
with Apple extending a rally that began Tuesday after it unveiled a
trio of new iPhones and monthly prices for its new video-streaming
service. Shares of the phone maker were recently up 2.7%.
Other technology stocks jumped as well, with Facebook, Micron
Technology and Intel all rising at least 1%.
Earnings-related news drove additional swings among individual
stocks.
Dave & Buster's Entertainment slid 4.6% after cutting its
guidance.
GameStop shed 11% after reporting a loss for the most-recent
quarter and giving a downbeat forecast for the year.
Elsewhere, markets in Europe and Asia were mostly higher. The
Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.8% to notch its biggest gain in a week, and
South Korea's Kospi added 0.8% after strong jobs data.
Investors have shown signs in recent days of expecting less
stimulus from the ECB when it meets Thursday.
"Ahead of the ECB meeting, investors seemed to take some chips
off the table with aggressive expectations being pared back," said
Antoine Bouvet, senior rates strategist at ING Bank in a note.
Still, investors are still betting both the ECB and the Fed will
lower rates.
On Wednesday, President Trump called again for looser U.S.
monetary policy when he tweeted, "The Federal Reserve should get
our interest rates down to ZERO, or less, and we should then start
to refinance our debt."
Expectations of lower rates helped markets climb at the start of
the year, though stocks have pared some of their gains since
then.
Government bond prices weakened Wednesday, with the yield on the
10-year U.S. Treasury note rising to 1.733% from 1.706% on Tuesday
after data showed producer prices rose more than expected in
August.
With bonds, prices move inversely to yields. Inflation tends to
hurt government bond prices because it chips away at the value of
bonds' fixed payouts.
Write to Akane Otani at akane.otani@wsj.com and Anna Isaac at
anna.isaac@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 11, 2019 15:33 ET (19:33 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.