Fed Pivot Likely To Contribute To Continued Strength On Wall Street

[ADVFN]( [[Global Email] World Daily Markets Bulletin]( Thursday, 14 December 2023 09:12:57 [ADVFN Twitter]( [Monitor]( [Quote]( [Charts]( [News]( [Toplists]( [Boards]( Breaking: Price of Gold & Silver set to EXPLODE in 2023! Read Now... Attention investors and retirement savers...Investment experts and even mainstream news publications are predicting a windfall for gold and silver prices in 2023! This could be the year we see the value of precious metals like gold and silver EXPLODE! You won't want to miss out! [Reserve Your FREE Gold & Silver Kit Today!]( --------------------------------------------------------------- US Market Bitcoin [Bitcoin]( DAX [DAX]( Dow Jones [Dow Jones]( Nasdaq [Nasdaq]( The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a higher open on Thursday, with stocks poised to extend the rally seen late in the previous session. The markets may continue to benefit from a positive reaction to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, which lifted the Dow to a record closing high on Wednesday. The Fed left interest rates unchanged, as widely expected, and signaled plans to cut interest rates three times next year. Since the Fed?s projections are often conservative, traders are expecting the central bank to slash rates even further than forecast in 2024. Potentially adding to optimism the economy is headed toward a soft landing, the Commerce Department released a report this morning showing an unexpected increase in U.S. retail sales in November. Stocks turned in a lackluster performance throughout much of the trading session on Wednesday before skyrocketing in reaction to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. With the late-day rally, the Dow soared to a record closing high, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in almost two years. The Dow saw further upside going into the close, spiking 512.30 points or 1.4 percent on the day to 37,090.24. The Nasdaq shot up 200.57 points or 1.4 percent to 14,733.96 and the S&P 500 jumped 63.39 points or 1.4 percent to 4,707.09. The surge on Wall Street came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged while also confirming plans to pivot to cutting rates next year. In support of its dual goals of maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run, the Fed said it decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 5.25 to 5.50 percent. The accompanying statement said the decision came as economic growth has slowed from its strong pace in the third quarter, while inflation has eased over the past year. The projections provided by the Fed also suggest the central bank will begin cutting rates next year, with the median forecast indicating rates will be lowered to 4.6 percent by the end of 2024. The median forecast points to rates in a range of 4.50 to 4.75 percent, hinting the Fed plans to cut rates by 25 basis points three times next year. Following the September meeting, the Fed had forecast raising rates by another 25 basis points this year before lowering rates to a range of 5.0 to 5.25 percent by the end of 2024. "Additional rate hikes no longer appear to be part of the conversation," said Mortgage Bankers Association SVP and Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni. "It is all about the pace of cuts from here." During his post-meeting press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged that rate cuts will be a "topic of discussion" at upcoming meetings. Gold stocks showed a substantial move back to the upside following recent weakness, resulting in a 6.4 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The rally by gold stocks comes as the price of the precious metal soared in electronic trading on the heels of the Fed announcement. Considerable strength was also visible among biotechnology stocks, with the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index surging by 4.3 percent to its best closing level in over three months. Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD) led the sector higher, skyrocketing by 34.5 percent after winning a patent suit regarding its drug Nuplazid. Banking, commercial real estate and utilities stocks also showed particularly strong moves to the upside following the Fed announcement. Most of the other major sectors also moved higher on the day, with airline, housing and networking stocks seeing significant strength. --------------------------------------------------------------- Do you day trade? Trader Alerts streams stocks reaching new highs and lows as well as stocks breaking out of previous volume highs as they happen. It's a powerful tool for day trading ideas. [Learn More / Upgrade]( --------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Economic Reports CADUSD [CADUSD]( Oil [Oil]( Gold [Gold]( EURUSD [EURUSD]( Retail sales in the U.S. unexpectedly increased in the month of November, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday. The Commerce Department said retail sales rose by 0.3 percent in November after slipping by a downwardly revised 0.2 percent. Economists had expected retail sales to edge down by 0.1 percent, matching the dip originally reported for the previous month. Excluding sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales inched up by 0.2 percent in November after coming in unchanged in October. Ex-auto sales were expected to slip by 0.1 percent. The Labor Department also released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly decreased in the week ended December 9th. The report said initial jobless claims fell to 202,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised level of 221,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to come in unchanged compared to the 220,000 originally reported for the previous week. The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also slipped to 213,250, a decrease of 7,750 from the previous week's revised average of 221,000. A separate report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed U.S. import prices fell by less than expected in the month of November. The Labor Department said import prices decreased by 0.4 percent in November following a revised 0.6 percent decline in October. Economists had expected import prices to slide by 0.8 percent, matching the drop originally reported for the previous month. Meanwhile, the report said export prices fell by 0.9 percent in November, matching the downwardly revised decrease in October. Economists had expected export prices to tumble by 1.0 percent compared to the 1.1 percent slump originally reported for the previous month. At 10 am ET, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release its report on business inventories in the month of October. Business inventories are expected to come in unchanged in October after climbing by 0.4 percent in September. --------------------------------------------------------------- [3 Tiny Stocks Primed to Explode]( The world's greatest investor ? Warren Buffett ? has a simple formula for making big money in the markets. He buys up valuable assets when they are very cheap. For stock market investors that means buying up cheap small cap stocks like these with huge upside potential. We've set up an alert service to help smart investors take full advantage of the small cap stocks primed for big returns. [Click here for full details and to join for free.]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Stocks in Focus Shares of Moderna (MRNA) are moving sharply higher in pre-market trading after revealing promising results from a mid-stage trial of an experimental cancer vaccine the drugmaker is developing along with Merck (MRK). Online travel agency Tripadvisor (TRIP) is also likely to see initial strength after BTIG upgraded its rating on the company?s stock to Buy from Neutral and raised its price target to $25 per share. Shares of Foot Locker (FL) may also move to the upside after Piper Sandler upgraded its rating on the athletic footwear and apparel retailer to Overweight from Neutral. --------------------------------------------------------------- [Sell every Stock except ONE]( Markets are down... But Jeff Clark couldn't care less because he ignores almost every stock in the market except ONE. He lives financially free trading this One Stock Once per month... [Ticker Revealed.]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Europe European stocks have rallied on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady, as widely expected, and hinted at three rate cuts in 2024, citing easing inflation and slowing growth. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England also left interest rates unchanged. While the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index has surged by 1.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 1.1 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.6 percent. Dutch brewing major Heineken N.V. has jumped after reappointing Dolf van den Brink as Chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer. Australian electronics firm AMS-Osram has also moved sharply higher after Jefferies upgraded its rating on the stock to "buy" from "hold." Bunzl, the British specialist international distribution and services Group, has also rallied after upgrading its full-year profit outlook. Serco Group has also surged after the outsourcing company forecast 2024 profit to increase to around 260 million pounds ($328.5 million). Shares of Air France-KLM Group have also jumped in Paris. The airline confirmed its 2024-2026 outlook and said it has revised upward operating margin outlook to above 8% over the 2026-2028 period. Media giant Vivendi has also shown a substantial move to the upside after revealing a plan to split its businesses. Germany's Bayer has also jumped after it announced a collaboration with Iktos to expand the use of AI in the discovery and development of new sustainable crop protection products. Evotec has also surged. The life science company partnered with Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, one of the largest university hospitals in Europe, to create a molecular patient database for ANCA-associated vasculitis. Oil & gas company BP has also risen. The company said it has forfeited a maximum of 32.43 million pounds or $40.59 million in potential remuneration from former CEO Bernard Looney after determining that he knowingly misled the board regarding his personal relationships with colleagues. --------------------------------------------------------------- Do you have a full view of the market? Level 2 lets you see all of the orders to buy and sell shares, allowing you to see what is really going on in the market. If you don?t have this in your trading toolkit, you?re at a serious disadvantage. [Learn More / Upgrade]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Asia USDCAD [USDCAD]( USDEUR [USDEUR]( USDGBP [USDGBP]( USDJPY [USDJPY]( Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Thursday even after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, as widely expected, and indicated a shift towards cutting borrowing costs against the backdrop of slowing growth and easing inflation. China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.3 percent to 2,958.99, giving up early gains after data showed new bank lending in China jumped less than expected in November. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 1.1 percent to 16,402.19. Japanese shares fell notably to snap a three-day winning streak as the yen hit a four-and-half-month high against the dollar amid the Fed's dovish pivot. Traders also watched the latest political developments after three ministers resigned over a major corruption scandal in the ruling party. The Nikkei 225 Index shed 0.7 percent to close at 32,686.25, with banks and automakers pacing the decliners. The broader Topix Index closed 1.4 percent lower at 2,321.35 ahead of the Bank of Japan's two-day policy meeting beginning Monday. Toyota Motor, Honda Motor, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial gave up 3-5 percent. Staffing agency Recruit Holdings soared 7.2 percent on share buyback news. Government data showed earlier in the day that Japanese core machinery orders rose 0.7 percent in October from the previous month. Seoul stocks posted strong gains, with the Kospi rallying 1.3 percent to 2,544.18 after the Fed hinted at rate cuts. LG Energy Solution, Naver and SK Hynix jumped 3-4 percent. Australian markets also surged, led by real estate, tech and gold mining stocks. Insurers lost, with QBE and Suncorp falling 2-3 percent. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index spiked 1.7 percent to 7,377.90 after employment far outpaced expectations for a second straight month in November. The broader All Ordinaries Index settled 1.7 percent higher at 7,599.40. Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 Index rose 0.7 percent to 11,552.88 despite disappointing GDP data for the third quarter. GDP unexpectedly shrank in the third quarter, fueling bets that the central bank will start cutting interest rates next year. --------------------------------------------------------------- Do you day trade? Trader Alerts streams stocks reaching new highs and lows as well as stocks breaking out of previous volume highs as they happen. It's a powerful tool for day trading ideas. [Learn More / Upgrade]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Commodities Crude oil futures are surging $1.66 to $71.13 a barrel after jumping $0.86 to $69.47 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after rising $4.20 to $1,997.30 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are soaring $45.90 to $2,043.20 an ounce. On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 142.06 yen versus the 142.89 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0923 compared to yesterday?s $1.0874. --------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this news bulletin or edit your mailing list settings click [here](. Registered Office/Accounts Dept: Suite 27, Essex Technology Centre, The Gable, Fyfield Road, Ongar, CM5 0GA. Customer Support +1 888-992-3836. Company registered in England and Wales: Number 2374988 VAT No. GB 549 2130 49