US Stocks Rise Ahead of Fed’s Brainard Statement

September 12, 2016 Share Print 0

U.S. stocks on Monday turned positive in early trade, shrugging off early losses, as the main indexes attempted to bounce back from a sharp selloff on Friday.

Investors have been grappling with the prospect of the Federal Reserve tightening monetary policy, following hawkish comments from a number of central-bank officials.

The rebound was driven by a climb in defensive sectors such as utilities, telecoms and consumer staples and was aided by paring of losses in the energy sector as oil prices came off session lows.

The S&P 500 SPX, +0.37% was most recently trading up 8 points, or 0.4%, to 2,136, with only financials in negative territory, off 0.3%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.22% was up 53 points, or 0.3%, at 18,136. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.65% was up 24 points, or 0.5%, at 5,150, driven by a rally in biotechnology shares. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF IBB, +1.79% was up 1.2%.

Traders are awaiting a speech by Fed dove Lael Brainard later in the day, hoping she could dispel concerns a rate increase is imminent. Brainard is due to speak at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs at 1:15 p.m. Eastern Time.

via MarketWatch

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Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse

Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.