Stock Market Today: Dow closes higher as dovish Fed speak dents Treasury yields

investing.com:

Investing.com — The Dow closed higher Tuesday, underpinned by a fall in Treasury yields as dovish remarks from some Federal Reserve officials boosted bets on rate cuts.

By 16:00 ET (21:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 83 points, or 0.2%, the S&P 500 was 0.1% higher and the NASDAQ Composite rose 0.3%.

The main Wall Street indices are on course to post strong gains in November — the DJIA set to finish the month 6.9% higher, the S&P 500 up 8.5% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq 10.8% higher.

Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller said he was «increasingly confident» that policy is currently well positioned to slow the economy and get inflation back to 2% target.

Adding to clout to bets of a Fed rate cut early next year, Waller added that should data show disinflation continuing for several more months, the Fed «could then start lowering the policy rate just because inflation's lower.»

Treasury yields fell on the remarks, with the yield on United States 2-Year falling nearly 12 basis points to about 4.74%, while the yield on the United States 10-Year fell 6 basis points to 4.330%.

The remarks come just ahead of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index, on Thursday, which is expected to have risen just 0.1% on the month in November, a drop from 0.4% in September.

Sentiment on retailers were boosted by ongoing signs that the consumer remains in good shape after consumer confidence in November surprised to the upside, while Cyber Monday sales hit a record high.  

Consumer spending on Cyber Monday, the biggest U.S. online shopping day, is expected to have surged to an all-time high of over $12 billion, according to preliminary estimates from Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE)