New Record for S&P 500 on Wall Street, Growth in European Markets

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 index reached a new record level on Thursday, thanks to a strong increase in stock prices of several technology giants and investor confidence that the Fed will soon lower interest rates.

The Dow Jones strengthened by 0.77 percent, to 45,621 points, while the S&P 500 rose by 0.83 percent, to 6,502 points, and the Nasdaq index increased by 0.98 percent, to 21,707 points.

The new record for the S&P 500 is primarily attributed to the rise in stock prices of several technology giants, such as Amazon, Broadcom, and Meta Platforms. Thus, the indices continued a positive trend that has lasted for months, as investors expect that the U.S. central bank will lower interest rates by 0.25 percentage points at its meeting in mid-September.

Fed leaders have recently indicated that this is possible due to the weakness in the labor market.

The exact situation in the U.S. labor market will be revealed on Friday by the employment report, which could significantly influence the market direction. If the data shows that the labor market continues to weaken, it is almost certain that the Fed will lower interest rates in September. However, if the data shows strong job growth, it is uncertain whether the central bank will lower rates.

The Fed’s decision could also be influenced by new inflation data, which will be released next week and will show whether the tariffs recently imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump have caused a significant increase in consumer prices.

On most European exchanges, stock prices also rose yesterday. The London FTSE index strengthened by 0.42 percent, to 9,216 points, while the Frankfurt DAX rose by 0.74 percent, to 23,770 points. However, the Paris CAC weakened by 0.27 percent, to 7,698 points.

Asian Markets Rise, Dollar Weakens

On Asian exchanges, stock prices rose on Friday, following yesterday’s growth on Wall Street, while the dollar slightly weakened against a basket of currencies for the second consecutive day.

The MSCI Asia-Pacific index was up 0.3 percent at 7:00 AM.

Stock prices in South Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Japan rose between 0.2 and 0.6 percent, while in India, they fell by 0.2 percent.

Among the biggest gainers was the Japanese Nikkei index, as stock prices of automotive companies surged after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order imposing a 15 percent tariff on imports of Japanese cars, rather than the 27.5 percent he had recently threatened.