Wall Street ends quarter with broad rally

Wall Street closed sharply higher and the dollar softened on Friday as investors closed the books on a solid quarter, with data showing progress in the Federal Reserve’s efforts to tame inflation.

All three major US stock indexes surged, notching weekly, monthly and quarterly gains. “It’s a nice cherry on top to the end of a great quarter and an even better start to 2023,” said Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist at Carson Group in Omaha.

“This was one of the best starts to the year ever for Nasdaq and large-cap technology names, but let’s not forget they were the hardest hit group in the vicious bear market of 2022.”

In the first half of 2023, the S&P 500 advanced 15.9%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rode the artificial intelligence wave, surging 31.8%, its best performance in four decades. The Nasdaq 100 logged its biggest first-half gain on record, jumping 38.8%. The Dow registered a 3.8% year-to-date gain.

“The market continued to climb a wall of worry fueled by optimism surrounding AI, which represents a new growth driver in a premier growth sector,” said Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategist of CFRA Research in New York.

The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report showed cooler-than-expected inflation in May, while consumer spending abruptly decelerated, providing further evidence that the Fed’s barrage of rate hikes are having their desired effect.

Financial markets are pricing in an 84% probability that the Federal Open Market Committee will implement another 25-basis-point (bps) rate hike at the conclusion of its July policy meeting, CME’s FedWatch tool showed.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2023.

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