[ad_1]
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose Thursday and is set to tie its best winning streak on record going back to 1897.
The 30-stock index added 119 points, or 0.34%. The S&P 500 climbed 0.69%, and the Nasdaq Composite popped 1.26%.
The Dow is headed for a 14-day advance that would match the index’s longest positive streak on record going back to June 1897. The benchmark was created just a little more than one year prior, in May 1896.
Behind the Dow’s historic streak this month are signs that the economy will dodge a recession, falling inflation data and resilient corporate earnings. Wall Street got more evidence on all those fronts on Thursday.
Gross domestic product showed a rise of 2.4% in the second quarter, which was better than the 2% increase expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. The report also suggested price pressures are easing, with the personal consumption expenditures price index rising 2.6% in the second quarter. That’s lower than the 3.2% increase expected by economists, and the 4.1% rise in the prior quarter.
Meta Platforms shares popped 8% on better-than-expected results and strong guidance. The company’s numbers were boosted by a rebound in ad revenue. Meanwhile, Chipotle Mexican Grill dropped about 7% as sales fell short of estimates.
Earnings results have generally been stronger-than expected. Of the companies that have reported thus far, 81% have beaten analyst expectations, according to FactSet data.
The Dow maintained its streak this week even after the Federal Reserve hiked rates for an 11th time on Wednesday. Investors took the rate hike in stride as Fed Chair Jerome Powell said after the decision that the central bank could raise rates again or hold them steady at these levels depending on the data. The central bank meets again in September after a batch of new inflation and employment figures and traders are betting that upcoming data will cause the Fed to back off.
“Those very high rates that scared me and the market earlier on in the year don’t seem to be having as much of a negative effect as I had feared,” Wharton School’s Jeremy Siegel told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday. “And that, combined with the fact that Powell now is saying I’m going to look at both sides of the equation, I think is very positive for the markets.”
That bullish momentum has already carried the Dow to an extraordinary run Wednesday, when the index notched its 13th straight day of gains in its best winning streak going back to 1987.
If the benchmark closes higher Thursday, it will be an achievement matched only once before for the index, 126 years ago when Queen Victoria still sat on the throne. Back then, the Dow listed just 12 stocks; it expanded to 30 stocks in 1928.
— CNBC’s Scott Schnipper and Gina Francolla contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link