Still, he said that he maintains an open mind and won’t “prejudge” the outcome of the June FOMC meeting, wherein central bank members will decide whether to adjust the Fed’s interest rate target.
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USA stocks are rising Monday afternoon as energy companies rise along with the price of oil.
Traders on Friday sharply cut the odds of an interest-rate increase at this month’s meeting following poor jobs figures that have provoked an acute debate over the health of the labour market.
On domestic investment, Yellen said she suspects there’s a “transitory element” to recent weakness, but she acknowledged that labor market data “raise the less favorable possibility that firms may instead have chose to expand their operations more slowly”. But Bartholomew said the Fed’s decision won’t be based on a single report or economic indicator. The Nasdaq composite index picked up 24 points, or 0.5 percent, to 4,966.
The financial index also pared some gains and was up 0.4%. The Nasdaq is close to its highs for the year.
Her remarks come after the government released a surprisingly weak May jobs report on Friday.
The S&P 500 closed at a 7-month high on Monday as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen painted a mostly upbeat picture of the economy but gave little sense of when a rate hike may be coming.
The economy has registered considerable progress over the past several years toward the Federal Reserve’s goals of maximum employment and price stability, and, as I will explain, there are good reasons to expect that we will advance further toward those goals, said Janet Yellen in a speech at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. Higher home prices have lifted household wealth. Exxon Mobil added 97 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $89.34. She noted that the job market had strengthened significantly since the Great Recession and said that consumer spending and economic growth seem likely to accelerate after a tepid start to 2016. “She didn’t say ‘in the next few months, ‘ which is dovish”, said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama. Hercules plans to sell all of its assets to pay off investors, including worldwide divisions.
FERTILIZER: CF Industries climbed $2.32, or 8.1 percent, to $30.93 and Mosaic rose $1.44, or 5.4 percent, to $28.14.
Shares of companies in the S&P 500’s materials sector, which includes gold miners, gained 0.9% Monday. Sparking the action is encouraging data on the drugmaker’s lung cancer treatment, Brigatinib.
Gold for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange edged up $4.60 or 0.4 percent to $1,247.50 per ounce. Silver rose 8 cents to $16.45 an ounce.
In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline lost 2 cents to $1.59 a gallon. Heating oil gained 2 cents to $1.50 a gallon.
London’sFTSE 100 index rose 1%. Britain will hold a referendum on membership in the 28-nation bloc on June 23 and campaigning is heating up. The British pound fell 0.4% against the dollar to $1.4456. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell almost 0.4 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.4 percent.
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BANKS: Banks traded higher as bond yields made a modest recovery after a big drop on Friday.
