Stocks tick higher, on pace for first winning week in last 4

By Joe Mcdonald And Matt Ott, The Associated Press on March 3, 2023.

NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks are ticking higher as relaxing yields in the bond market take some pressure off Wall Street. The S&P 500 was 0.4% higher in early trading Friday. It’s on pace to close the week with a small gain, its first in the last four weeks, after finding some stability following a swift rise and fall to start the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite also rose. Sharper moves may still be ahead in the morning when the latest data arrive showing how strong U.S. services industries were last month. Treasury yields moved lower.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

U.S. futures and global stock markets advanced Friday after a Federal Reserve official raised hopes the U.S. central bank may not be as aggressive with rate hikes as much as feared despite sticky inflation.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.2% before the bell and futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.3%.

Wall Street rose Thursday for the first time in three days after the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Raphael Bostic, expressed support for raising the Fed’s key lending rate less than many investors are forecasting. Bostic said the Fed might be able to suspend additional rate increases by mid-year, sooner than some expect.

Bostic expressed support for raising the Fed’s benchmark lending rate to a range of 5% to 5.25%.

That countered comments by other Fed officials who say rates might have to be raised more and stay elevated longer to extinguish inflation after job growth, consumer spending and price increases were stronger than expected.

A number of economists raised their forecasts for how high the Fed will take rates this year on the heels of such strong economic data. Many now envision the central bank boosting its benchmark short-term rate to a range of 5.25% to 5.5%

Investors also are cutting expectations of U.S. corporate profits due to warnings that inflation and interest rates might cool consumer demand.

In midday trading in Europe, the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.1%, the DAX in Frankfurt advanced 1.1% and the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.8%.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5% to 3,326.92 after a central bank official said China’s vast real estate industry was recovering from a slump triggered by debt controls that led to a wave of defaults by developers, rattling global financial markets.

The official, Pan Gongsheng, mentioned Evergrande Group, the global real estate industry’s most heavily indebted developer. But he gave no update on government-supervised efforts to restructure its $310 billion in debt.

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 1.6% to 27,934.01 after Japan’s unemployment rate edged lower in January.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 1.2% to 20,555.46 and the Kospi in Seoul was 0.2% higher at 2,432.07.

Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 added 0.4% to 7,282.20 and India’s Sensex rose 1.6% to 59,834.42. New Zealand, Bangkok and Jakarta declined while Singapore advanced.

Treasury yields, which respond to expectations of Fed policy, retreated early Friday after widening Thursday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, or the difference between its market price and payout at maturity, slipped to 4.02% from 4.06% late Thursday. It is near its highest level in four months.

The two-year yield edged back down to 4.87% from 4.90%. It is close to a 16-year high.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude slid 33 cents to $77.83 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 47 cents on Thursday to $78.16. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, gave up 42 cents to $84.33 per barrel in London. It gained 44 cents the previous session to $84.75.

The dollar declined to 136.25 yen from Thursday’s 136.76 yen. The euro gained to $1.0607 from $1.0590.

On Thursday, The Dow added 1% and the S&P 500 rose 0.8%, rebounding from a loss early in the day. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.7%.