NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks rose early Thursday, recovering some of the losses from the prior session’s sell-off, as markets shrugged off for now the risk of a US government shutdown.
US indices sank more than 2.5 percent Wednesday after the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates but signaled that it expects fewer rate cuts in 2025 as it battles lingering inflation.
But the market was back on the upswing early Thursday even as an intervention by President-elect Donald Trump in Capitol Hill politics over an omnibus spending bill raised the odds of a shutdown this weekend.
Wall Street rises with all eyes on Fed decision
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.7 percent at 42,636.67.
The broad-based S&P 500 also gained 0.7 percent to 5,915.47, along with the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index, which stood at 19,532.46.
“We’ll see if it can make through the day,” LBBW’s Karl Haeling said of the market’s early gains in spite of the messy budget situation in Washington.
“I’m encouraged that the stock market is trading up from the standpoint that they may see a path out of this,” he added. “But whether that’s just wishful thinking or … we’re really going to be in for a doozy here, I don’t know.”
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