Linea Mercati Interview 3/6/25
March 7, 2025
Wall Street confusa dai dazi
March 7, 2025By Johann M Cherian and Sukriti Gupta
March 7, 202510:17 AM ESTUpdated 14 min ago
Item 1 of 2 Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., February 25, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
[1/2]Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., February 25, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
- Summary
- Companies
- Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments due at 12:30 p.m. ET
- Hewlett Packard slumps after dour Q2 forecasts
- Nonfarm payrolls increase by 151,000 in February
- Indexes up: Dow 0.29%, S&P 500 0.46%, Nasdaq 0.66%
March 7 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes ticked up in choppy trading, boosted by a jump in energy stocks, while investors assessed a key jobs report and awaited comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for clues on the health of the U.S. economy.
At 09:51 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab rose 124.23 points, or 0.29%, to 42,703.31, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab gained 24.38 points, or 0.46%, to 5,764.57 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab gained 120.10 points, or 0.66%, to 18,186.29.
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Energy (.SPNY), opens new tab led sectoral gains on the S&P 500 with a 1.8% rise, tracking a 2% increase in oil prices.
Nasdaq component Broadcom (AVGO.O), opens new tab rose 7% after the chipmaker assuaged investor worries about artificial intelligence infrastructure demand with a strong second-quarter forecast. Technology stocks (.SPLRCT), opens new tab added 1.3%, while the broader chip index (.SOX), opens new tab added 1.9%.
On the other hand, rate-sensitive banks (.SPXBK), opens new tab dipped 0.5%, with Citigroup (C.N), opens new tab and JP Morgan Chase (JPM.N), opens new tab down 1% each.
A Labor Department report showed job growth picked up in February from the previous month. However, the growth missed economists’ expectations, adding to worries about the economy’s resilience.
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“This is not an overly weak report and it’s not overly strong,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.
“It is within the average job creations over the past several months and that suggests that the economy is still somewhat resilient, although challenges persist.”
Following the data, traders added to expectations that the central bank will lower borrowing costs for the first time in June, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at 12:30 p.m. ET will now be in focus to get more clarity on the central bank’s policy. His colleagues, including John Williams, Michelle Bowman and Adriana Kugler, are also slated to speak later in the day.
Equities witnessed their most volatile week this year, with Wall Street’s fear gauge (.VIX), opens new tab trading near levels not seen since mid-December, as traders tried to assess President Donald Trump’s fluctuating trade policy.
In the previous session, the Nasdaq confirmed a 10% drop from its December all-time high, while the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab appeared to have reversed most of its gains since Trump’s election victory.
The indexes, along with the blue-chip Dow (.DJI), opens new tab are on track for their biggest weekly drop since September. Equity funds witnessed the largest weekly outflow in four weeks in the week ended on March
