Wall Street ended a choppy session higher with a strong focus on the Federal Reserve

(Reuters) – Wall Street’s major indexes ended a swing session higher on Monday, as investors turned their attention to this week’s policy meeting at the Federal Reserve and how aggressively to raise interest rates.

Even more than the Ukraine war or corporate profits, the actions of the US central bank are driving market sentiment as traders try to position themselves in an environment of rising interest rates.

S&P 500 . Index (.SPX) and Nasdaq (nineteenth) It rebounded from posting its worst weekly percentage drop since June on Friday, as markets posted at least a 75 basis point hike in interest rates at the end of the federal policy meeting on September 20-21, with Fed fund futures showing a 15% chance of a massive increase. by 100 basis points.

Unexpectedly hot inflation data in August last week also increased bets for rate hikes on the way, with the final US Federal Reserve funds rate now at 4.46%.

“It’s all about what happens on Wednesday, and what’s out of the Fed’s hands on Wednesday, so I think people will wait and see until then,” said Josh Markman, partner at Bel Air Investment Advisors.

“We had a poor reading when the CPI came in, so the Fed – which is behind the eight ball – is now trying to get ahead of the curve and curb inflation, and that (awareness) is driving the stock markets.”

Reflecting caution about new bets ahead of the Fed meeting, only 9.58 million shares traded on US stock exchanges on Monday, the lightest day for trading volume this year.

The focus will also be on the new economic outlook, due to be published alongside the Fed’s policy statement at 2 PM ET (1800 GMT) on Wednesday. Read more

Fears of Fed tightening have sent the S&P 500 down 18.2% this year, with a terrible earnings report recently released by delivery company FedEx Corp. (FDX.N), an inverted US Treasury yield curve and warnings from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund about an impending global economic slowdown exacerbate the problems. Read more

Goldman Sachs cut its US GDP forecast for 2023 late Friday as the Federal Reserve forecasts bolder and sees it as pushing the unemployment rate higher than previously expected.

“The Fed is going to keep going, we’re going to get 75 basis points on Wednesday, but what happens after that and whether or not they pause after Wednesday is going to be the interesting part,” Bel Air’s Markman said. .

Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) The Standard & Poor’s Index rose 197.26 points, or 0.64%, to 31.019.68 points (.SPX) It rose 26.56 points, or 0.69%, to 3,899.89, and the Nasdaq Composite (nineteenth) It added 86.62 points, or 0.76%, to 11,535.02 points.

Most of the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 rose. The only exception was healthcare (.SPXHC)Down 0.6%, affected by a decline in shares of moderna Inc., the maker of vaccines Follow Favorite A day after President Joe Biden declared in an interview with CBS that “the pandemic is over.” Read more

industrial stocks (.SPLRCI) Rebounded 1.4% after a sharp drop on Friday, while banks rebounded (.SPXBK) Gained 1.9%. Apple Heavy Technology (AAPL.O) and Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) It rose 2.5% and 1.9%, respectively, to provide the biggest boost to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (TTWO.O) It closed 0.7% higher, after recovering from a slump earlier in the day due to confirmation that a hacker leaked early footage from Grand Theft Auto VI, the next installment of the best-selling video game. Read more

Meanwhile, Knowbe4 Inc (KNBE.O) It jumped 28.2% to $22.17, the highest close since May 4, after the cybersecurity firm said Vista Equity Partners had offered to acquire it for $24 per share, valuing the company at $4.22 billion. Read more

The S&P 500 hit a new 52-week high and 28 new low; The Nasdaq recorded 29 new highs and 378 new lows.

Additional reporting by Davek Jain and Shreyachi Sanyal in Bengaluru and David French in New York; Editing by Shunak Dasgupta, Anil de Silva and Lisa Schumaker

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