US stocks rise strongly ahead of Powell's key Jackson Hole speech

U.S. stocks rose Friday, rebounding after the previous session's losses, with the focus turning to an address by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for more cues on the bank’s plan to cut interest rates.

AT 09:32 ET (13:32 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 185 points, or 0.5%, S&P 500 climbed 30 points, or 0.6%, while NASDAQ Composite gained 135 points, or 0.8%.

The Wall Street indexes registered deep losses on Thursday, weighed chiefly by losses in technology stocks as traders rotated into more rate-sensitive sectors. Powell set to speak at Jackson Hole

Fed Chair Powell is set to speak at the Jackson Hole Symposium later Friday, and is widely expected to offer more cues on the central bank’s plans to begin cutting interest rates.

While it is unlikely that Powell will explicitly flag a September rate cut, markets are pricing in with certainty that the central bank will trim rates next month. Traders are split over a 25 and 50 basis point reduction, CME Fedwatch showed. 

Recent signs of a cooling U.S. economy, especially the labor market, drove increased expectations of lower interest rates. Data earlier this week showed a sharp downward revision in payrolls for the year to March 2024, indicating that any declines in payrolls seen in recent months were from a much lower base than initially expected.

The reading ramped up concerns that a sharply cooling labor market will put the economy on course for a hard landing and a potential recession. 

The U.S. economic data slate includes the latest numbers new home sales  for July later in the session. Uber announces partnership with Cruise 

In the corporate sector, Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER ) has announced a multiyear partnership with Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors (NYSE:GM ), allowing the latter's self-driving vehicles to be launched on Uber's ride-hailing platform.

Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST ) stock rose 6% after the retailer raised its fiscal 2024 profit forecast and posted second-quarter results above expectations late Thursday, benefiting from demand for its discounted apparel and easing freight costs.

Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY ) shares also jumped 14% after the human resource software provider beat market expectations for second-quarter revenue and announced a $1 billion stock buyback plan. Crude on course for weekly losses

Crude prices rose Friday, ending a difficult week on a positive note, but were still on course for weekly losses amid persistent concerns over slowing demand. 

By 09:32 ET, the U.S. crude futures (WTI) climbed 1.4% to $74.06 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 1.2% to $78.17 a barrel.

Both benchmarks hit their lowest levels since early January this week, and are still on course to register weekly losses of around 2%.

Recent data from China, the world’s top oil importer, has pointed to a struggling economy and slowing oil demand from refiners there, while the sharp revision to U.S. employment data earlier in the week raised the possibility of a hard landing for the U.S. economy, the largest consumer of energy. 

A renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, with U.S. and Israeli delegations meeting in Cairo to resolve differences over a truce proposal, has also helped ease supply worries and weighed on oil prices.

(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)

Source: Investing.com