Saturday, February 8, 2025

Wall Street Rides High: U.S. Stocks Surge After PPI Report

UPI

The New York stock market continued a steady upward trend on Thursday.

Investors reacted positively to the August Producer Price Index (PPI), which aligned closely with market expectations, alleviating uncertainties regarding potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. While analysts debated whether any reduction would be 0.25% or a more substantial 0.5%, it appears that significant barriers to a rate cut have now been removed.

NVIDIA rose nearly 2%, and other M7 big tech stocks continued their upward trend that day.

Meanwhile, international oil prices surged significantly for two consecutive days amid hurricane concerns.

Sustained Gains

The three major New York stock market indexes showed some early instability. Still, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rejoined the upward trend, resulting in all three indices rising.

The Dow closed up 235.06 points (0.58%) at 40,096.77.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose for four consecutive days this week, with the S&P 500 rising 41.63 points (0.75%) to finish at 5,595.76 and the Nasdaq jumping 174.15 points (1.00%) to close at 17,569.68.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) Volatility Index (VIX), often referred to as the Wall Street Fear Gauge, dropped 0.62 points (3.50%) to 17.07.

M7 Continues to Rise

The M7 big tech stocks led the market rally with continued gains. NVIDIA, which soared 8.2% the previous day, rose by $2.24 (1.92%) to $119.14.

NVIDIA has risen for four consecutive days, increasing nearly 15.9% since September 9.

Tesla also ended up $1.68 (0.74%) at $229.81. After rising for four days straight, it surged 9.05% this week.

Alphabet rose by $3.53 (2.34%) to $154.69, while Amazon climbed $2.48 (1.34%) to $187.00.

Meta Platforms saw the largest gain among the M7, surging $13.77 (2.69%) to $525.60.

Microsoft rose by $3.96 (0.94%) to $427.00, and Apple finished slightly higher, up $0.11 (0.05%) at $222.77.

International Oil Prices Surge Around 2%

International oil prices continued to rise sharply for two consecutive days, fueled by concerns that Hurricane Francine could disrupt US oil production.

Brent crude, the benchmark for international oil, jumped $1.36 (1.93%) to $71.97 per barrel.

Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US oil benchmark, soared $1.66 (2.47%) to close at $68.97 per barrel.

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