DOW Financial News

Markets in Europe and Asia have shot higher after the Federal Reserve kicked off its efforts to prevent a recession in the U.S. with a bigger-than-usual cut to interest rates

The Claman Countdown panelists Gabriela Santos and Kenny Polcari analyze the impact of the Federal Reserve rate cut move.

Wall Street wavered near its records after the Federal Reserve kicked off its efforts to prevent a recession with a bigger-than-usual cut to interest rates

U.S. stocks closed with modest losses on Wednesday, well off their intraday highs, after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 50 basis points, the high side of estimates for its first cut in more than four years. Trading was choppy. Prior to the Fed announcement, the S&P 500 oscillated between modest gains and losses. The benchmark index rose as much as 1% after the announcement before paring gains and finally closing lower. The Dow and S&P 500 hit intraday highs before weakening.

US Federal Reserve's Chair Jerome Powell shook the markets after their aggressive stance of a 50 basis points rate cut, the US economy is in a precarious situation. Meanwhile, the effects of the same can be easily felt in the Asia-Pacific markets as well, as they reportedly opened higher than usual, hours after the massive Fed rate cut.

Wall Street's main indexes opened slightly higher on Wednesday, as the Federal Reserve was widely expected to deliver its first interest rate cut in more than four years, with most investors betting on a 50-basis point reduction. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 22.7 points, or 0.05%, at the open to 41,628.91.

U.S. stocks drifted to a mixed close near their all-time highs ahead of a highly anticipated meeting of the Federal Reserve

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at another all-time high after recouping its losses from early September

Shares are mostly higher in Europe and Asia as world markets await an expected interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve

Wall Street ahead of the Federal Reserve's pivotal monetary policy decision, due later in the week, with a majority of traders pricing in a steep cut in borrowing costs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 41.4 points, or 0.10%, at the open to 41,435.17.

U.S. stocks rose closer to their records and closed out their best week of the year as hopes built for a big rate cut next week

US stock market indexes — S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow Jones — will be look up to the Federal Reserve. There are worries over the economy as well as the uncertainty on how much the U.S. central bank will cut interest rates at its monetary policy meeting. The S&P 500 index is just 1% shy of its July record high despite weeks of market swings sparked by worries over the economy and seesawing bets on the size of the cut at the Fed's September 17-18 meeting. With the S&P 500 up about 18% so far this year, it may not take much to disappoint investors with next week's Fed meeting. While the renewed hopes for a bigger cut were boosting large cap indexes on Friday the optimism seemed most evident in the Russell 2000 small cap index, which rose 2.5% on the day and 4.4% for the week.

U.S. stocks rose closer to their all-time highs following a couple reports on the economy that came in close to expectations

U.S. stock indexes stormed back from big early drops to finish higher, led by a handful of highly influential Big Tech companies

Wall Street's main indexes were subdued at the open on Thursday as a hot producer prices reading kept a smaller 25-basis point interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve firmly on the table. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4 point at the open to 40862.11.

U.S. stocks drifted to a mixed close following several weeks of sharp swings

U.S. stocks drifted to a mixed close following several weeks of sharp swings

Stocks closed higher on Wall Street, ending a four-day losing streak

Another rout hit Wall Street, leaving the market with its worst week in 18 months, after a jobs report billed as the most important of the year came in weak enough to keep worries high about the economy

Nasdaq composite, and Dow Jones fell on Friday as US stock market indexes were hit by technology company's shares. A highly anticipated update on the U.S. job market came in weak enough to add to worries about the economy. The S&P 500 dropped 1.7 per cent to close out its worst week since March 2023. Broadcom, Nvidia and other tech companies led the market lower as worries continue that their prices soared too high in the boom around artificial intelligence, and they dragged the Nasdaq composite down by a market-leading 2.6 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 410 points, or 1 per cent, after erasing a morning gain of 250 points. S&P 500 fell 94.99 points to 5,408.42. The Dow dropped 410.34 to 40,345.41, and the Nasdaq composite lost 436.83 to 16,690.83.

Index-tracking stock funds with $350 billion in assets are due for a big revamp later this month, after S&P Dow Jones Indices retooled its rules to curb the dominance of the largest companies. With the equity market getting increasingly top-heavy in the era of Big Tech, S&P will now reduce the weightings of the market leaders in proportion to their capitalization — in the event they get even bigger and breach size-related thresholds in key industry benchmarks, it said in a statement this week.