The main stock indices of the U.S closed higher on Tuesday after US labor cost data gave encouraging signals to investors about the aggressive approach to the Federal Reserve to contain the inflation one day before the US central bank’s critical monetary policy decision.
The S&P 500 index posted its first January gain since 2019, up 6.2%, while the Nasdaq technology index jumped 10.7% for the month, its biggest January percentage gain since 2001.
Labor costs rose at their slowest pace in a year in the fourth quarter as wage growth slowed, data from the US Department of Labor showed.
The US central bank is expected to raise the benchmark interest rate by 25 percentage points on Wednesday, following a 2022 in which the Fed aggressively raised borrowing costs to control rising inflation.
THE Dow Jones (DJI) rose 1.09% to 34,086.04 points. THE S&P 500 (SPX) gained 1.46% to 4,076.6 points. thenasdaq (US100) advanced 1.67% to 11,584.55 points.
All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 ended in positive territory, with materials and consumer discretionary, both up more than 2%, leading gains.
A busy week for markets will also include corporate earnings from Apple, Amazon.com and Alphabet, central bank meetings in Europe and the monthly US jobs report in the coming days.
Source: Moneytimes
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