On Wednesday, the Nasdaq index on the New York Stock Exchange made history by surpassing the 20,000 mark for the first time.
This milestone was driven by the release of the November Consumer Price Index (CPI) by the U.S. Department of Labor, which met expectations and fueled optimism about potential Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
All three major U.S. stock indices saw gains. At 12:13 PM Eastern Time, the Nasdaq surged to 20,022.88, a significant jump of 335.64 points (1.70%) from the previous session’s close.
The S&P 500, widely regarded as the best indicator of the overall market situation, climbed 54.76 points (0.91%) to 6,089.67. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which consists of 30 large blue-chip stocks, rose by 45.73 points (0.10%) to 44,293.56.
The rally was led by tech giants such as Tesla and Nvidia.
Nvidia’s stock price soared by $3.70 (2.74%) to $138.77. Tesla saw an impressive gain of $12.46 (3.11%), reaching $413.45, setting a new all-time high during the session.
Apple’s stock rose $1.98 (0.80%) to $249.75, and Microsoft’s stock increased by $6.17 (1.39%) to $449.50.
Alphabet continued its upward trend, buoyed by the unveiling of its Gemini 2.0 AI model. The company’s stock price jumped by $8.51 (4.60%) to $193.68.
Amazon climbed $5.57 (2.48%) to $230.61, while Meta Platforms saw a robust increase of $15.32 (2.47%), closing at $634.64.
The Labor Department’s November CPI report showed a 0.3% increase month-over-month and a 2.7% rise year-over-year.
Core CPI, which excludes the volatile food and energy sectors, rose 0.3% from the previous month and 3.3% from the same month last year.
With the CPI data aligning closely with expectations, financial markets are increasingly confident that the Federal Reserve will implement a 0.25 percentage point rate cut at its final Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of the year, scheduled for December 17-18.
According to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, the futures markets believe the likelihood is 96%.
The New York Stock Exchange, cautious before the CPI release, resumed its record-breaking rally as the inflation figures did not deviate from expectations.
