Wall Street's major indexes struggled to keep up momentum on Thursday, after the S&P 500 (SP500) and the Nasdaq (COMP:IND) hit new intraday highs earlier, as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell did not comment on the economic outlook or monetary policy at a Fed event.
The benchmark S&P 500 (SP500) was last -0.4% in afternoon trade, while the Nasdaq Composite (COMP:IND) was -0.3%, and the Dow (DJI) was -0.7%.
Among Thursday's decliners, AppLovin (APP) shares were -4.2% after reports on Monday that the SEC was potentially probing them over data collection processes. Dell (DELL) -5.3% is also among the top decliners, as its CEO said that clients appear to be constrained by their ability to access enough energy to power data center demands.
Within commodities, gold (XAUUSD:CUR) officially surpassed the $4,000 level on Wednesday, while the Silver spot silver also hit a historic $50/oz as investors piled into precious metals.
“Could this trigger a fresh wave of buying as retail investors rush to join the latest gold rush? It’s certainly possible, although such interest is likely to be in coins, jewelry and bullion. Nevertheless, every little helps. It looks as if gold may be consolidating after two months of relentless gains,” said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.
“All recent attempts at a retracement have been short-lived, with every dip quickly met by aggressive buying interest. This persistent demand underscores the depth of conviction among market participants, even at such high price levels,” he added.
In other news, Fed Chair Jerome Powell gave welcome remarks before the Community Bank Conference, however, he did not mention anything about the monetary policy or the economy. In addition, Fed Governor Michael Barr said he's skeptical that the FOMC should "fully 'look through' higher inflation from import tariffs."
Also, due to the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, there are no economic data releases slated on Thursday.
“Last night saw the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September FOMC meeting… Despite this lack of clarity, the probability of two further rates cuts this year has risen, according to the CME’s FedWatch Tool, and this has helped to underpin U.S. equities. Overall, investors took the minutes in their stride, viewing them as neither overly dovish nor hawkish,” Morrison said.
Over in the bond market, yields were lower. The 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y) was 3 basis points higher at 4.15%, while the 2-year yield (US2Y) rose 2 basis points to 3.61%. A $22B, 30-Year Bond Auction tailed.
The Fed balance sheet will land later in the day.
On geopolitics, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire and hostage deal as part of the first phase of a peace plan advanced by U.S. President Donald Trump to end the war in Gaza.
Wall Street’s major averages ended higher on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 tagging new record closes, all while gold (XAUUSD:CUR) topped $4,000/oz and FOMC minutes landed.
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