U.S. stocks climbed on Thursday, building on a fresh record after a big boost in the wake of Donald Trump's win in the presidential poll. U.S. stocks rose: S&P 500 by 0.65%, Nasdaq by 1.39%, and Dow Jones remained flat wee as all three indices scaled their intra-day record highs in the morning trade.
On Wednesday, the Dow soared by more than 1,500 points, posting the biggest two-year gain, while the S&P 500 advanced 2.53%, the best result since the U.S. presidential election. Market expectations of less regulatory control and pro-business policies, based on the new election result, have further boosted the markets.
“Financial markets could now slightly relax fearing a long election process,” said Scott Helfstein, Head of Investment Strategy at Global X ETFs. He said, however, that investors should not over-estimate extreme and sudden movements of currency or other markets in response to geopolitical events, given history's tendency for fundamentals to dominate in the long term.
The financials, which had booking exceptionally high, particularly on Wednesday, advanced but slower on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Financial) shares declined 4%, and American Express (AXP, Financial) fell 2% to drag on the Dow slightly. Nasdaq was up for the day, bolstered by more than 1% increases in tech companies Apple (AAPL, Financial) and Nvidia (NVDA, Financial).
Traders are eagerly awaiting the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, due Thursday afternoon. CME Group's FedWatch tool shows a 100 percent chance of the rate being cut after the reduction in September this year, the first time since December 2020.
Richard Flynn, Managing Director at Charles Schwab UK, believes that the Fed's decision will bring some clarity for the short term in the highly unpredictable market environment after the election.
