U.S. stock market = slightly higher, Fed official’s comment makes outlook for interest rate cut uncertain | Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stock markets rose slightly. In addition to the move to absorb recent price increases, uncertainty over the timing of interest rate cuts has increased following a series of statements by Federal Reserve officials. However, a decline in the yield on the US 10-year bond supported the market.

Fed Vice Chairman Barr, who is in charge of financial regulation, said on the 17th that he thinks policy interest rates are at or near their peak. Meanwhile, San Francisco Fed President Daley and Boston Fed President Collins said they wanted to see more evidence of easing inflation.See more

Applied Materials (AMAT.O), the largest semiconductor manufacturing equipment company, fell 4%, putting pressure on the market. In addition to the quarterly results, news that the company is under criminal investigation for allegedly circumventing regulations and exporting products to China’s largest semiconductor company, Semiconductor International Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (SMIC), was cited as material.See more

For the week, the S&P 500 (.SPX) rose 2.2%, the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) rose 2.4%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 1.9%. All three major indexes rose for the third consecutive week, the longest streak since July for the S&P and Dow, and the longest since June for the Nasdaq.

“The biggest takeaway of the day was that Treasury yields sank to a two-month low,” said Robert Phipps, a director at Par Sterling.

Among the 11 major S&P sectors, energy rose 2.1%. It followed the rise in crude oil prices. Industrial (.SPLRCI) and financial (.SPSY) were also strong.

On the other hand, declines in communications services (.SPLRCL) and information technology (.SPLRCT) were notable. Google’s holding company Alphabet (GOOGL.O) fell more than 1%, and Microsoft (MSFT.O) fell 1.7%, putting pressure on them.

OpenAI, a startup company that partnered with Microsoft to develop the conversational artificial intelligence (AI) ChatGPT, announced that CEO Sam Altman will be retiring.See more

Amazon.com (AMZN.O) rose 1.6%. The company has announced that it will cut “several hundred” jobs in its voice assistant Alexa division.See more

Clothing giant Gap (GPS.N) soared 30.6%. The third quarter sales exceeded market expectations, which gave a positive impression.See more

The Russell 2000 Index (.RUT), which is made up of small-cap stocks, outperformed, rising 1.4%. It rose 5.4% for the week.

The total trading volume on US exchanges was 10.05 billion shares. The average for the last 20 business days was 11.04 billion shares.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining issues on the New York Stock Exchange by a 2.65-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, there were also many stocks that rose by a ratio of 2.16 to 1.

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