US stocks rally amid Fed minutes, trade hopes

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IANS | 10 Oct, 2019
US stocks climbed on Wednesday as investors pored through the newly-released Federal Reserve minutes while expecting the upcoming trade talks between the US and China.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 181.97 points, or 0.70 per cent, to 26,346.01. The S&P 500 advanced 26.34 points, or 0.91 per cent, to 2,919.40. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 79.96 points, or 1.02 per cent, to 7,903.74, Xinhua reported.

All of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded on an upbeat note throughout the session, with technology up 1.45 per cent at the close, outpacing the rest.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday released the minutes from its September policy meeting.

"The September FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) minutes reinforce the likelihood of a rate cut at the meeting three weeks from now," Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, said in a note on Wednesday, adding that the minutes showed a growing concern about the US economic outlook and the international situation among FOMC participants.

On the data front, US job openings, a measure of labor demand, slipped to 7.05 million in August from 7.17 million in the prior month, marking the lowest level since March 2018, the Department of Labor said on Wednesday.

A flurry of disappointing US data released recently raised hope for easier monetary policy from the Federal Reserve.

Market expectations for a rate cut later this month were more than 80 per cent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.