Powell lured Wall Street investors back into stocks

A speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell lured Wall Street investors back into stocks. Powell tended to meet the wishes of those who hoped for more casual statements about monetary policy. The Dow Jones Industrial rose by 0.69 percent to 35,455.8 points at the end. This brought the New York benchmark index a week plus of almost one percent. The other New York indices also rose, once again reaching record highs: the market-wide S&P 500 ultimately gained 0.88 percent to 4509.3 points, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 even went up 1.01 percent to 15,432.9 points high. In the Dow, however, 175 points were missing from a record that is now almost two weeks old. Powell's speech had been a central theme in the financial markets for days. Although he held out the prospect of a reduction in Fed bond purchases this year, he remained vague and pointed out the dangers currently posed by the coronavirus. The monetary watchdog also emphasized that a reduction in bond purchases is not yet an immediate sign of an imminent rate hike. For investors, the statements were as cautious as hoped. The details feared by some were also missing. "No news is currently acting as good news," said market observer Timo Emden from Emden Research. "As long as the US Federal Reserve is poking around in the fog, the stock market can obviously continue to find a breeding ground in the low interest rate," emphasized the expert. In the wake of the Powell speech, the oil values were in demand, driven by rising raw material prices, including for crude oil. Chevron's shares were among the bigger winners in the Dow at 1.5 percent. ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil stood out in the broader market with increases of up to 2.9 percent. But many growth stocks from the technology industry, for which low interest rates are an important pillar of their business dynamics, also received positive attention. These included many chip values on the Nasdaq stock exchange and the record-high titles there from Google's parent company Alphabet. In the Dow, Walt Disney won two percent in the top group after a report in the "Wall Street Journal" said that they were talking to betting providers about a trademark license from the sports broadcaster ESPN. This also helped the gambling companies Caesars Entertainment and Draftkings mentioned by name to rise significantly.