Stock market today: Indexes rise as traders try to shrug off Powell’s hawkish commentary

• US stocks rose Wednesday as traders tried to move past Jerome Powell’s hawkish commentary on Tuesday. 
• The Fed boss said progress on inflation appeared to be stuck, indicating rates will remain high. 
• Major averages ticked higher at the open as traders looked to break a three-day losing streak.

US stocks rose on Wednesday as traders tried to recover from a three-day losing streak. All three benchmark indexes ticked higher, while long-dated bond yields dipped. 

Stocks tumbled this week as investors continued to digest hotter-than-expected inflation data and the central bank’s latest guidance on rate cuts. In public remarks on Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chair Powell said the inflation fight appears to have stalled, and central bankers needed more confidence inflation was on track to fall to its 2% target. 

The comments hint that Fed officials will likely keep rates higher for longer unless the job market should “unexpectedly weaken,” Powell added. 

Strong economic data and hawkish Fedspeak have cut into the market’s rate-cut hopes. Investors have nearly taken the possibility of a June Fed rate cut off the table, and are now expecting just 1-2 rate cuts by the end of the year, down from 6 cuts expected at the start of 2024, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

“Chair Powell’s comments in Washington, DC, yesterday, materially reduce the chance of a June Fed easing,” Ian Shepherdson, the chief economist of Pantheon Macroeconomics, said in a note on Wednesday. “For the record, we think delaying rate cuts is a mistake, and the risk of an unwanted recession is rising. But we don’t have our hands on the policy levers.”

“The Fed picked a bad time to have a communication problem on the path of rates this year,” Jamie Cox, a managing partner at Harris Financial Group said in a statement. “Markets need to focus on the fact that rates are sufficiently restrictive, instead of how many cuts are in the pipeline,” he added.

Bond yields edged lower on Wednesday, with the 10-year Treasury dropping three basis points to 4.626%. 

Here’s where US indexes stood at the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Wednesday: 

• S&P 500: 5,074.74, up 0.47% 
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 37,918.94, up 0.34% (+127.83 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 15,940.95, up 0.51% 

Here’s what else is happening today: 

• Elon Musk’s wealth has crashed by $160 billion from its peak as Tesla’s problems pile up.
• Bitcoin is about to undergo another “halving” event. Here’s why that could send its price soaring.
• Stop thinking your expensive watch is an investment, Rolex’s CEO says.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto: 

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped 0.9% to $84.51 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, slumped 1% to $89.04 a barrel. 
• Gold rose 0.17% to $2,387.25 per ounce. 
• The 10-year Treasury yield dropped three basis points to 4.626%. 
• Bitcoin slipped 1.21% to $62,241.