Wall Street Today | Brainard Says Fed May Slow Pace of Rate Hikes Soon

The Fed will likely soon slow its interest rates hikes, Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard signaled on Monday, as the U.S. central bank tries to figure out how high borrowing costs need to go and how long they should stay there to bring down inflation.

It's going to take more than just a drop in Treasury yields to revive moribund technology stocks, as growth worries grip an industry slashing costs.

"The question here for tech is -- if I take that pressure off from rates, do I get a valuation rerating, or do people take a step back and say I need to see how this cost-cutting initiative plays out?" Stuart Kaiser, head of US equity trading strategy at Citigroup said. "Tech is a really tricky trade right here, just for that reason."

Traders who had been betting against US-listed China stocks rushed to buy back $234 million worth this month through Nov. 10, as the value of shares shorted surged by more than a combined $2.6 billion, according to financial analytics firm S3 Partners.

The inflow came last Thursday, just as the Nasdaq posted its biggest jump in more than two years on hopes that softer-than-expected inflation data can persuade the Federal Reserve to slow its pace of monetary tightening.