(The Closing Bell will be updated sometime after 4:00 PM CDST to include the latest updates from IBD and Bloomberg Evening Briefing.)
FYI: Stocks climbed Wednesday as investors further embraced the possibility that the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates to boost the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 207 points, or 0.82%, while the S&P 500 added 0.82% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.64%.
The gains for stocks in the Dow industrials and S&P 500 followed the two indexes’ best day in five months Tuesday. They climbed more than 2% after supportive commentary from Federal Reserve officials buoyed investor confidence, which has been hit by concerns over Washington’s trade disputes in recent months.
Also Tuesday, Senate Republicans warned they may block the White House’s planned tariffs on Mexico. President Trump’s threat of imposing escalating tariffs on all Mexican imports rattled investors last week, sending stock and bond yields around the world sharply lower.
Technology stocks bounced back after suffering a brutal start to the week. On Monday, tech giants Facebook and Alphabet tumbled more than 6% after a report that the Federal Trade Commission had secured rights to begin a potential antitrust investigation into the social media company and on a report that the Justice Department had been given chief oversight over a Google probe. On Wednesday, the S&P 500’s tech sector rose 1.1% in recent trading.
Also on the rise Wednesday were shares of Salesforce.com Inc., which added 4.2% after the business-software developer raised its earnings outlook and posted record first-quarter revenue.
A drop in the price of oil threatened to deflate the broad indexes’ rises. Oil prices closed in a bear market Wednesday, dropping more than 20% below their April peak. U.S.-traded crude oil recently fell 3.5% to $51.65 a barrel, leading energy stocks in the S&P 500 down 1.1%.
In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.4%, while Germany’s DAX added 0.1%.
The British pound rose to a nine-day high against the dollar after the U.K. services purchasing managers index rose more than expected in May. The expansion provided some reassurance about the health of the British economy, though some observers remained circumspect.
The gains in Europe followed a positive session in Asia, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index up 0.5%, Korea’s Kospi index up 0.1% and Japan’s Nikkei jumping 1.8% higher.
The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasurys edged lower on Wednesday to 2.118%, from 2.119% on Tuesday. Yields on German 10-year bunds were at minus 0.222%, having earlier hit a fresh low of minus 0.224%.
Regards,
Ted
Bloomberg Evening Briefing:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-05/your-evening-briefingMarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-poised-to-extend-powerful-rally-driven-by-hope-of-the-fed-cutting-interest-rates-2019-06-05/printWSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-edge-up-after-wall-street-surge-11559720521Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-04/stocks-in-asia-to-rally-as-fed-signals-ready-to-act-market-wrap?srnd=premiumIBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/stocks-continue-winning-streak-indexes-get-boost-from-hot-software-sector/CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/05/stock-market-us-futures-signal-more-gains.htmlReuters:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks/wall-st-gains-as-weak-private-jobs-data-raises-rate-cut-bets-idUKKCN1T61B8U.K:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-stocks/ftse-100-ekes-out-gains-on-hopes-of-fed-rate-cut-provident-surges-idUKKCN1T60O2Europe:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-stocks/fed-rate-cut-hopes-boost-european-stocks-tech-leads-idUSKCN1T60OXAsia:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/nikkei-leads-asian-market-gains-following-wall-streets-rally-2019-06-04/printBonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/05/bond-market-treasury-yields-focus-on-fed-comments.htmlCurrencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/04/forex-market-fed-rate-cut-expectations-us-trade-tensions-in-focus.htmlOil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/05/oil-markets-us-crude-inventories-rosneft-comments-in-focus.htmlGold:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/05/gold-markets-fed-rate-cut-expectations-dollar-in-focus.htmlWSJ: Markets At A Glance:
https://markets.wsj.com/usMajor ETFs % Change:
https://www.barchart.com/etfs-funds/etf-monitorSPDR's Sector Tracker:
http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-trackerSPDR's Bloomberg Sector Performance Pie Chart:
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/sectorsCurrent Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx 
Comments
Have a nice evening, Derf