Wall Street opens higher on Friday, and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s official commitment to a target inflation rate of 2% remains strong.
Wall Street slides higher on Thursday and Friday despite hot inflation data and the interest rate hike policy. On Thursday, all main indexes, including the Nasdaq and the Dow, moved up hours while the bond market cooled down after hitting a four-month high in the past week.
On Thursday, the Atlanta central bank president said that the U.S. will experience the impact of interest rate hikes by the beginning of spring, and the impact is more of a bite.
The Atlanta federal reserve bank president notes that the rate hikes have relieved investors’ sentiment to a certain degree, while others fear the long-term effects of the higher interest rates.
Moving the stock market, at 13:50 a.m. ET, the S&P 500 was up by 1,35%, the Nasdaq composite jumped by 1,65%, and the Dow futures rose by 0,90%.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 VIX index declined by 4,16%; a strong decline in the index suggests that the stress level in the stock market has cooled down. The index experienced higher increases in the previous month due to market worries and mixed corporate fourth-quarter results.
Now that the market fears of aggressive interest rate hikes have declined, the index will decline in return as a sign of a stable movement.
Between all that is going on, the dollar index is losing its momentum; the index has been down by 0.33 percent to 104.56.
Moving to the bond market, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield has finally declined after hitting a four-month high. The index was above the 4% level by the end of February.
On Friday, it fell by 2,16% to 3,96. As for the 30-year bonds, the index fell by 2.66 percent to 3,9, signaling a less volatile housing market.
Investors are fully aware of the Federal Reserve president and officials’ strong commitment to their target rate of 2%. The currency market sees a 20% probability of a 50% basis-point interest hike in March. However, it’s too soon to give an accurate number, at least until the release of the monthly payrolls and consumer price index data.
February’s hot inflation data caused market turmoil, on the other hand, individual stocks are making their biggest moves in terms of profits and gains. Including Tesla, AMC, Apple, and other high-appealing stocks
Last month’s economic data pushed investors to forecast that the next interest rate hike will be at most 25%.
Elsewhere, the European Union and the U.S. are working together to accomplish a free trade agreement. The agreement will help make European mineral and battery components eligible for tax credits.
Moving to the energy market, U.S. natural gas prices have skyrocketed in the past few days. The index jumped by 7.7% in today’s session.
Crude oil west Texas intermediate rose by 1,71% to $79,7 per barrel, while Brent oil was up by 1,16% to its current price of $86 per barrel.