NEW YORK (AP) โ Stocks rose ahead of a busy week for central banks around the world that could dictate where interest rates head next. The S&P 500 added 0.6% on Monday, following its first consecutive weekly losses since October. It approached its all-time high set early last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.8%. Big tech stocks once again led the way. Treasury yields rose ahead of a Federal Reserve announcement scheduled for Wednesday. The central bank will give its latest projections on where it sees interest rates heading this year.
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NEW YORK (AP) โ Stocks are rising Monday ahead of a busy week for central banks around the world that could dictate where interest rates go.
The S&P 500 rose 0.8% in afternoon trading, following its first consecutive weekly loss since October. It is close to its all-time high set early last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 96 points, or 0.3%, as of 1:54 p.m. ET, and the Nasdaq composite was up 1%.
The highlight of Wall Street this week will probably be the The Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates, which ends on Wednesday. The central bank is widely expected to keep its main interest rate stable at its highest level since 2001.
But Fed officials will also give updated forecasts on where they see interest rates heading this year and over the long term. They had previously forecast three rate cuts this year, which would ease pressure on the economy and financial system.
Recent reports in inflation have consequently been entering worse than expected, although. That could force the Federal Reserve to say it will make fewer rate cuts this year.
Such a move would be a big disappointment for Wall Street, where stock prices have already risen in part on expectations of lower rates. Treasury yields in the bond market have also declined since last fall on such expectations, although they have narrowed those losses on concerns about persistently high inflation.
It's possible that the Federal Reserve could keep its key interest rate near its current level through this year, according to Joe Davis, global chief economist at Vanguard. The investing giant recently raised its 2024 baseline outlook for the U.S. economy not experiencing a recession, but also slightly raised its forecast for underlying inflation trends.
Across the Pacific, the Bank of Japan will announce its latest interest rate decision on Tuesday. It has been keeping rates below zero in hopes of boosting the economy and inflation. Speculation is mounting that Japanese workers' wages are rising enough for the Bank of Japan to finally raise rates.
Across the Atlantic, the Bank of England will announce its latest rate decision at the end of the week.
On Wall Street, Nvidia rose 0.5% after paring a larger earlier gain as it kicked off its annual developer conference. Analysts say the widespread expectation is that Nvidia will unveil its next-generation artificial intelligence architecture, along with growing AI use cases.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will deliver a keynote speech after the close of trading for the day on Wall Street, while holding a question-and-answer session with financial analysts on Tuesday.
The frenzy around artificial intelligence technology on Wall Street has sent shares of Nvidia and other players soaring so much that critics are calling it a bubble. Nvidia has become the third largest stock in the US stock market.
Other Big Tech stocks were also driving the S&P 500 higher. Apple rose 1.4% and Alphabet rallied 5%. Tesla jumped 5.9% to cut its year-to-date losses.
On the losing side of Wall Street was Hertz Global Holdings, which fell 4.2% to bring its year-to-date loss to 30%. Its president and CEO, Stephen Scherr, will resign at the end of March. The company named Wayne โGilโ West as its CEO. He is a former executive at Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company, and Delta Air Lines.
Trading was mixed on Wall Street, with the smallest stocks in the Russell 2000 index falling 0.2%.
Boeing sank another 1.2% to bring its annual loss to 30.8%. It has been struggling with concerns about its manufacturing quality and its latest negative headline. came on friday. Workers found a panel missing from an older Boeing 737-800 after it arrived at its destination in southern Oregon from San Francisco.
In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.34% from 4.31% last Friday.
On foreign stock markets, the Japanese Nikkei 225 rose 2.7%. Shares of Nissan Motor and Honda Motor Co. rose after the two car manufacturers They agreed to a partnership on electric vehicles.
Aside from a 1% jump for stocks in Shanghai, moves were much more modest elsewhere in Asia and Europe.
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AP Business writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.
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