Feb 13 (Reuters) – Major U.S. equities edged higher on Monday as investors flocked to hard-hit heavyweight equities and lower Treasury yields helped lift sentiment. At the same time, Meta Platforms securities strengthened after reports of plans for new cuts in the company.
Shares of Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp added 0.4% to 3.00%, pushing Russell 1000 Growth up 0.85%.
“(Investors) held their horses during the rate hike because they thought it would ruin the growth of tech stocks,” said Peter Andersen of Andersen Capital Management.
The Fed is now signaling that its tightening cycle is nearing its end, which could give such fast-growing companies an extra boost, Andersen added.
Last year, the three major US indices posted their biggest decline since the 2008 financial crisis. The Nasdaq, in which the tech sector plays a large role, collapsed 33% due to fears that the Fed’s hawkish monetary policy will plunge the economy into recession.
Money markets expect rates to peak at 5.2% in July. At the same time, a robust labor market raised hopes for a milder-than-expected recession.
Meanwhile, Meta rose 2.44% after reports emerged over the weekend that Facebook’s parent company was preparing to announce a new round of staff cuts.
Markets now look to Tuesday’s US CPI and end-of-week retail sales data for more clues about the Federal Reserve’s next steps.
The Dow Jones rose 0.70% to 34.106.81 points by 18:41 GMT, the S&P 500 rose 0.69% to 4.118.51 points, and the Nasdaq rose 0.83% to 11.815.82 points.
Fidelity National Information Services Inc plunged nearly 15% after it decided to spin off its merchant payments division into a separate company.
The original message in English is available at the code: (Johann M Cherian in Bangalore)
