he Nasdaq led gains among major Wall Street indexes on Wednesday, as growth stocks rose after a mixed bag of economic data led to a drop in Treasury yields, while investors awaited minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting.
The minutes, due at 2 p.m. ET, could show how deep any emerging disagreement has begun to run at the Fed as it ends the push to “front-load” rate hikes and begins feeling the way in smaller steps to an eventual stopping point.
Heavyweight stocks, including Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Meta Platforms Inc (META.O), rose between 0.1% and 0.9%.
Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) jumped 5.6% after Citigroup upgraded the electric-vehicle maker’s stock to “neutral” from a “sell” rating.
Data showing a more-than-expected rise in Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week helped bring down the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note .
Meanwhile, U.S. business activity contracted for a fifth straight month in November, while consumer sentiment ticked higher. New home sales rose more than expected in October.
The disparate data bolstered expectations of a 50-basis point rate increase at the Fed’s next meeting in December.
“It’s a perverse move in the markets, that bad news is good news,” said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago.
Source: Reuters
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