A swing to stronger oil prices bolstered the main United States stock indexes on Tuesday afternoon, with energy and materials shares leading gains on the Standard & Poor’s 500.
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Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen is scheduled to speak on Friday at the Jackson Hole, Wyoming, conference of central bankers and her comments are eagerly awaited in terms of fresh clues on the timing of a United States rate hike.
Yellen’s stance will either support or dismiss the perceived hawkish stand that Fed policymakers have taken in recent days.
The case for an imminent rate hike was strengthened by Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer’s comments that the USA economy was close to hitting job and inflation targets.
“. By no means will the Fed want to cut off the bait for the September or December meeting”, said Steven Wieting, global chief investment strategist at Citi Private Bank.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 17 points, or 0.1%, to close at 18,547, underpinned by gains in Nike Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.2% to 2186.90.
China’s CSI 300 index gained about 0.5 per cent at 3,365.02, while the Shanghai Composite closed 0.13 per cent higher at 3,108.10 on hopes the government will roll out more stimulus to meet economic growth targets. Nasdaq hit an intraday record high during the session.
The S&P 500 is up 142.96 points, or 7 percent. The technology index .SPLRCT rose 0.61 percent, boosted by gains in Apple and Microsoft among others.
Apple was off 0.8 percent as the biggest drag on all three major indexes.
The materials sector .SPLRCM gained 0.99 percent, mainly due to Monsanto’s 4 percent rise on a Bloomberg report that the US seeds company’s merger talks with German suitor Bayer AG were advancing toward a deal.
Stocks on Wall Street rose in a broad but modest rally, pushing the Nasdaq to a record high amid better-than-expected earnings such as for Best Buy and strong new home sales.
Zoe’s Kitchen plunged 18.4 percent to $30.28 after the restaurant chain operator’s second-quarter revenue missed analysts’ expectations.
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In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index finished the day with a 0.9% advance from the previous close. On the Nasdaq, 1,456 issues fell and 785 advanced.
