Wall Street Increases on Fed Signals

The minutes revealed that many policymakers decided it would soon be suitable to slow the pace of interest rate hikes.

After the Fed’s last conference on Nov. 1-2, investors have been more hopeful that price pressures have begun to ease, suggesting smaller rate hikes could trim inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 95.96 points, or 0.28%, to 34,194.06, the S&P 500 earned 23.68 points, or 0.59%, at 4,027.26 and the Nasdaq Composite counted 110.91 points, or 0.99%, at 11,285.32.

Trading volume was low on the Thursday before Chuseok. US stocks braced for a half session on Friday.

Earlier on Wednesday, a diverse bag of economic data was conducted to reduce the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, supporting driving stocks up.

The number of Americans addressing new claims for lay-off benefits increased higher than expected last week. Moreover, U.S. business activity reduced for a fifth consecutive month in November. Consumer sentiment pounded higher, and home sales increased beyond expectations.

Heavyweight stocks, covering Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Meta Platforms Inc, increased by 1.00% and 0.72%, individually.

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) Inc gained 7.82%. Citigroup (NYSE: C) raised the electric vehicle maker’s stock from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating.

Outnumbering Decliners

Farm equipment maker Deere (NYSE: DE) & Co rose 5.03% after beating expectations on quarterly earnings.

Nordstrom Inc (NYSE: JWN) fell 4.24% as the fashion retailer slashed its profit prediction amid steep markdowns to lure inflation-wary customers.

The volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.25 billion shares, corresponding with the 11.6 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Rising issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.97-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.61-to-1 ratio selected advancers.

The S&P 500 had 21 new highs and no new lows in 52 weeks. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite posted 97 new highs and 126 new lows.