Stock market today: Wall Street drifts to more records after Chinese stocks soar
U.S. stocks drifted to more records in a quiet day of trading
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks drifted to more records Tuesday after Chinese stocks soared following a slew of moves by the Chinese central bank to prop up the world’s second-largest economy.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to set an all-time high for the 41st time this year. The movements were tentative, though, and the index wavered up and down following a surprisingly weak report released in the morning on confidence among U.S. consumers.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 83 points, or 0.2%, to its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.6%.
Financial markets have been mostly ebullient after the Federal Reserve made a drastic turn last week in how it sets interest rates. It’s now lowering rates to make things easier for the U.S. economy after keeping them high for years in hopes of extinguishing high inflation.
One of the risks still hanging over the market is the struggling Chinese economy and how much its flagging growth may affect the rest of the world. After earlier delivering some modest and piecemeal moves, the chief of China’s central bank on Tuesday announced a broad set of changes to bolster its economy, including a reduction in the amount of reserves banks are required to keep.
Analysts called the coordinated moves encouraging, and they helped stocks soar in China. Indexes jumped 4.2% in Shanghai and 4.1% in Hong Kong. But questions still remain about how much they will boost the economy, which has been struggling since Chinese authorities cracked down on excessive borrowing by property developers.
Prices climbed for crude oil and other commodities that a healthy Chinese economy would devour. Copper rose 3.3%.
Another risk hanging
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