by Luzi Ann Santos | moomoo News
The $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ and the tech-heavy $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ climbed to fresh closing highs as signs of weakening labor market fueled hopes that the US Federal Reserve could start cutting interest rates in the next few meetings.
The S&P advanced climbed 1.18% to a new high of 5,354.03, while the tech-heavy $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ closed up 1.96% at 17,187.90.
Nvidia shares climbed 5.16% to a new all time closing high and price of $1,224.40, taking the market capital of the leader in chips used to power artificial intelligence applications to $3 trillion. That's now in line with $Apple (AAPL.US)$'s $3 trillion valuation.
Advances outnumbered decliners 8323 to 4629, data compiled by moomoo. Semiconductors climbed, fueling the rally that got a jolt as AI-favorite $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ marched higher.
Stocks advanced after data Tuesday morning showed private payrolls rose in May at the slowest pace since January. Companies added 152,000 jobs in May, according to the ADP national employment report released Tuesday morning. That's smaller than the 175,000 jobs expected in a Bloomberg survey. Payroll gains in April were revised lower to 188,000 from 192,000.
The latest payrolls data adds to signs of weakening labor market. On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report showing job vacancies dropped by 1.8 million jobs to 8.1 million in April, the lowest in two years.
Pay gains for those switching jobs slowed for a second month to 7.8%, providing less incentive for employees to move to other companies. Rising labor costs have helped fan inflation.
The Nvidia party is also playing out in the options market, with 1.68 million options already traded with less than an hour left in the trading day. Call options volume reached 1.01 million, while put options were at 675,680.
The $U.S. 10-Year Treasury Notes Yield (US10Y.BD)$ slipped to 4.287%, from 4.332% yesterday, as the market prices in rate cuts.
Crude oil rebounded from a four-month low as rising hopes for rate cuts fueled investor appetite for risk assets. $Crude Oil Futures(JUL4) (CLmain.US)$ gained 1.2% to $74.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. $Gold Futures(AUG4) (GCmain.US)$ rose 1.2% to $2,375.50 an ounce on Comex.
