• 2024-11-11
• News

Dow, S&P 500 Hit New Intraday Highs

 

On Tuesday, the three major indices closed higher. During the session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to a record intraday high of 44,903.01 points, and the S&P 500 index climbed to 6,025.42 points.

[U.S. Stocks] As of the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 123.74 points, or 0.28%, to 44,860.31; the Nasdaq Composite added 119.46 points, or 0.63%, to 19,174.30; the S&P 500 index rose 34.26 points, or 0.57%, to 6,021.63. Nvidia (NVDA.US) increased by 0.66%, Tesla (TSLA.US) fell by 0.11%, MicroStrategy (MSTR.US) dropped by 12.33%, and Apple (AAPL.US) rose by 0.94%.

[European Stocks] The German DAX 30 index fell by 100.90 points, or 0.52%, to 19,308.75; the UK's FTSE 100 index declined by 32.49 points, or 0.39%, to 8,259.19; the French CAC 40 index lost 62.96 points, or 0.87%, to 7,194.51; the Euro Stoxx 50 index dropped by 37.82 points, or 0.79%, to 4,762.05; the Spanish IBEX 35 index decreased by 90.29 points, or 0.77%, to 11,621.51; the Italian FTSE MIB index fell by 246.72 points, or 0.74%, to 33,181.00.

[Asia-Pacific Stocks] The Nikkei 225 index fell by 0.87%, the Jakarta Composite Index in Indonesia dropped by 0.93%, and South Korea's KOSPI index declined by 0.55%.

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[Cryptocurrencies] Bitcoin fell over 1%, trading at $91,930.39 per coin; Ethereum dropped over 2.4%, trading at $330.34 per coin.

[Gold] International precious metal futures generally closed higher, with COMEX gold futures up 0.58% at $2,633.8 per ounce, and COMEX silver futures rising 0.8% to $30.48 per ounce.

[Oil] The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by 17 cents, or 0.25%, to close at $68.77 per barrel.

[Metals] LME copper futures closed down by $45, at $9,000 per ton. LME aluminum futures fell by $40, at $2,612 per ton. LME zinc futures rose by $56, at $3,076 per ton. LME lead futures declined by $8, at $2,021 per ton. LME nickel futures fell by $207, at $15,996 per ton. LME tin futures dropped by $72, at $28,904 per ton. LME cobalt futures remained unchanged, at $24,300 per ton.

[Macro News]

U.S. consumer confidence improved again in November, reaching a two-year high. According to the Conference Board's Chief Economist, Dana M. Peterson, "U.S. consumer confidence continued to improve in November, reaching its highest level in the past two years. The increase in November was mainly due to consumers' more positive assessments of current conditions, especially in the labor market. Compared to October, consumers' optimism about future job opportunities has also greatly increased, reaching the highest level in nearly three years. At the same time, consumers' expectations for future business conditions remained unchanged, while optimism about future income slightly decreased."

Fed Meeting Minutes: Officials prefer a gradual approach to rate cuts in the future. The minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting showed that, with the economy remaining solid and inflation slowly cooling, officials generally supported a cautious approach to future rate cuts. According to the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on November 6-7, "participants expected that if the data were roughly in line with expectations, with inflation continuing to move down towards 2% and the economy remaining close to full employment, then gradually moving towards a more neutral policy stance over time could be appropriate." The Fed cut rates by 50 basis points in September and reduced the benchmark rate by 25 basis points to a range of 4.5%-4.75% earlier this month. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said earlier this month that the economy has not sent any signals that rates need to be lowered urgently. Fed officials will hold their last policy meeting of the year on December 17-18. Policymakers at the November meeting also noted that the so-called neutral rate lacks clarity, which is another reason for caution. The neutral rate refers to the policy level that neither restricts nor stimulates economic growth. According to the minutes released in Washington on Tuesday, many officials said that uncertainty has complicated the assessment of the restrictive nature of monetary policy, and they believe this makes it appropriate to gradually ease policy restrictions. Over the past year, Fed officials' estimates of the neutral rate have steadily increased, but it is still unclear how close the rate is to this level. The minutes also showed that Fed officials are considering "technical adjustments" to the overnight reverse repurchase tool rate.

[Individual Stock News]

U.S. airlines exposed for collecting billions in seat selection fees; executives to face hearing. On November 26, local time, the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report criticizing U.S. airlines for charging seat selection fees. The chairman of the subcommittee said that airline executives have been subpoenaed to testify at a hearing scheduled for December 4 on this practice. The report stated that from 2018 to 2023, American Airlines (AAL.US), Delta Air Lines (DAL.US), United Airlines (UAL.US), Spirit Airlines (SAVEQ.US), and Frontier Airlines (ULCC.US) collected a total of $12.4 billion in seat selection fees, including seats with more legroom, seats located in the front of the cabin, and window or aisle seats. It is reported that although most major U.S. airlines have canceled change fees for standard economy class tickets, they have increased fees for certain more popular or more spacious seats on the plane. In addition, airlines are also competing to add premium seats on board to increase revenue.

Stellantis (STLA.US) prepares to close UK plant due to UK's electric vehicle mandate. Stellantis has proposed closing a van plant in Luton, UK, after the automaker warned that it may reduce production in the UK due to the country's zero-emission vehicle sales mandate. The owner of the Vauxhall car company said on Monday that it plans to transfer the production of medium-sized vans from the plant to its factory in Ellesmere Port to improve efficiency. The company also plans to transfer hundreds of jobs to Ellesmere Port and invest an additional £50 million ($63 million) there. Stellantis has threatened to halt its UK operations and has warned of the impact of what it calls the UK's overly strict electric vehicle targets. The UK has regulations requiring 10% of new van sales to be zero-emission this year, rising to 70% by the end of the century. Similar regulations also apply to cars.

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