Editor
Better-than-expected fourth-quarter reports boost Wall Street gains and the hope of delaying interest rate cuts.
Despite market worrisomes and uncertainties, the U.S. economy’s GPD shows a significant increase in its growth pace. The date shown by Thursday morning suggests that the 2023 fourth quarter was the best in terms of profits and revenue generation in the last three years.
The U.S. economy grew at a faster-than-anticipated rate in Q4 2023, boosted by a recovering labor market and strong retail sales.
Real GDP expanded at an annual rate of 3.3%, exceeding the expected 2.0% growth.
Economic activity remained robust despite signs of slowing, indicating resilience. On the other hand, this positive data will only encourage the Federal Reserve to keep pushing international art higher. And this time, it’s more likely the interest rate cuts will be sooner than anticipated. However, other economists think that Fed officials will delay the interest rate cuts due to their strong market resilience. This in turn has boosted Wall Street gains in today’s session, both in main terms and individual stocks.
Down below here are most of the tofu numbers in the U.S. stock market and broad market as well.
Looking at futures at 7:00, the Dow is slightly higher by 0.1%, the S&P shows a modest increase of 0.2%, and the Nasdaq also records a 0.12% uptick. Meanwhile, crude oil sees a rise of 1.3% to reach $76.09, gold edges up by 0.1% to $2,017.20, and Bitcoin experiences a slight dip of 0.2% to $40,149.
As for the earnings session, new reports of quarterly earnings have emerged; some were strongly positive, and others sadly down Humana (NYSE: HUM): Stock dropped 11% as the health insurer cautioned about an “unprecedented” rise in medical costs affecting earnings this year, leading to a shortfall in its 2025 profit target.
Tesla stocks fell by more than 8% hours after its CEO, Elon Musk, noted that his electric car manufacturing giant’s sales might fall short this year. American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL): Stock increased by over 6% as the carrier surpassed expectations in its forecast for full-year adjusted earnings per share.
Keeping with the oil market and its recent ups and downs. Oil prices today were boosted by better-than-anticipated U.S. growth. And also by a larger-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories. U.S. crude stockpiles dropped significantly by 9.2 million barrels last week, influenced by severe winter weather affecting refineries and reducing road traffic. Moreover, U.S. crude output fell from a record of 13.3 million barrels per day two weeks ago to a five-month low of 12.3 barrels per day last week.
Elsewhere, the People’s Bank of China unexpectedly cut reserve requirements for local banks, aiming to boost economic growth in the world’s largest oil importer. At the same time. In Asian markets, Japan remains unchanged, Hong Kong shows a gain of 2%, China exhibits a rise of 3%, and India experiences a decline of 0.5%.
EUR/USD traded 0.2% lower. During the European midday trading session, London is down by 0.2%, Paris sees a decrease of 0.5%, and Frankfurt registers a 0.4% drop.
The ten-year Treasury yield is down by two basis points, settling at 4.16%.
