STORY: U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday as investors parsed updated labor data and minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting.
The Dow rose marginally, the S&P 500 added more than four-tenths of a percent and the Nasdaq climbed nearly six-tenths.
Minutes from the central bank’s July meeting show Fed officials were already strongly leaning toward a rate cut at their next policy meeting in mid-September.
And payrolls data from the Labor Department for the 12 months through March was revised down by 818,000.
It was the steepest preliminary downward revision since the global financial crisis, suggesting the softening in the labor market could be more pronounced than previously assumed.
How that plays into interest-rate policy may be clearer on Friday when Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks from the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium.
Mel Casey is a senior portfolio manager with FBB Capital Partners.
“It seems at this point that the question the market has is whether we cut 25 basis points in September or whether they go for 50. And so I think traders will be watching that speech on Friday morning looking for some kind of change in language or something that indicates that they would maybe cut larger than the the expected 25.”
A slew of retailers saw big stock moves Wednesday…
Target surged more than 11% after it raised its 2024 profit forecast and posted its first quarterly increase in same-store sales in over a year.
TJ Maxx parent TJX rose more than 6% after the discount retailer lifted its annual profit forecast.
And on the flip side, shares of Macy’s slid nearly 13% after the department store chain lowered its annual net sales forecast.
Source Agencies
