A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Brendan McDiarmid | Reuters
the Nasdaq Composite Interest rates rose on Wednesday after the November inflation report matched economists' expectations, paving the way for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates again at its December meeting next week.
The technology-heavy sector index rose 1.8% to reach 20,000 points for the first time ever, while the broad market… Standard & Poor's 500 It rose by 0.9%. the Dow Jones Industrial Average It fell 48 points, or 0.1%.
The broader technology space was driving the market higher, with Technology Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) An increase of more than 1%. This makes the fund's year-to-date gains more than 24%. alphabet Its shares rose for the second day in a row in the wake of Google achieving a breakthrough in the field of quantum computing through its new chip. Other tech giants like dead and Amazon It was higher too.
Nvidia, Tesla Other bull market leaders also rose after relatively moderate inflation data. The chip maker's stock rose more than 3%, and Tesla stock advanced more than 4%. These two stocks have risen more than 181% and more than 68%, respectively, since the beginning of the year.
Inflation data in line
The November CPI, which tracks a basket of goods and services, was in line with expectations. The reading showed a 0.3% increase compared to October and a 2.7% increase compared to last year. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the core CPI rose 0.3% month-on-month and 3.3% year-on-year.
While this inflation data represented a faster pace than the previous month, traders expected that it was still not high enough to prevent the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates at its next meeting. Fed funds futures are priced at more than a 94% chance the central bank will cut interest rates in that pool, according to CME's FedWatch tool.
“We expect interest rates to be cut at the last meeting here at the end of the year,” Tom Heinlein, chief investment strategist at U.S. Bank Asset Management, told CNBC. “With no surprises, the market trend was higher, and there was no stopping it from melting until the end of the year.”
