The stock market bounced sharply on Wednesday after the Bank of England (BoE) took emergency action to shore up its bond market.
Similar to the U.S. Treasury market, yields on U.K. government bonds have been spiking lately. The most recent surge came after the government put into effect the largest set of tax cuts in decades – a move that sent the British pound spiraling. Overnight, though, the BofE said it will begin buying longer-term U.K. bonds and delay selling bonds it purchased during the pandemic "to restore orderly market conditions."
This led to a rally in U.K. and U.S. bonds, which sent yields lower (remember, bond prices and yields move in opposite directions). Most notably, the 10-year Treasury yield, which earlier topped the 4.0% level for the first time since 2008, finished down 23.8 basis points at 3.725%. A basis point is one-one hundredth of a percentage point.
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As for the equities market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.9% to 29,683, the S&P 500 Index rallied 2.0% to 3,719, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.1% to 11,051.
Other news in the stock market today:
- The small-cap Russell 2000 jumped 3.2% to 1,715.
- U.S. crude futures spiked 4.7% to settle at $82.15 per barrel as Hurricane Ian gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico.
- Gold futures rose 2.1% to finish at $1,670 an ounce.
- Bitcoin gained 2.5% to 19,535. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m.)
- Apple (AAPL) was the only Dow Jones stock to finish in negative territory today, shedding 1.3%. The move lower comes after a Bloomberg report suggested the tech giant has asked suppliers not to increase production of its new iPhone 14s as it anticipates a decline in demand. "We still believe that AAPL will meet/exceed September quarter expectations and see more favorable mix supporting average selling prices for the iPhone 14 cycle," says CFRA Research analyst Angelo Zino (Buy). "However, we see downside risk as we progress through the cycle, specifically in the March quarter, given extremely tough comparisons and our belief that not even AAPL is immune to macro headwinds. In addition, the virtually parabolic move/strength of the U.S. dollar is adding significant risk to all large-cap tech companies ahead of September quarter earnings season, including AAPL, where we see growth expectations likely be tempered within both hardware and services."
- Biogen (BIIB) soared 39.9% after the drugmaker reported positive late-stage study results for lecanemab, an Alzheimer's disease drug being co-developed with Japan's Eisai. The data showed the treatment slowed cognitive decline by 27% after 18 months. UBS Global Research analyst Colin Bristow (Buy) was one of many to chime in on BIIB stock today, calling the results "clinically meaningful" and "the positive Alzheimer's data point we were waiting for."
What's Next for Stocks?
So, what's next for the stock market? It's a question that will only be answered with time, but also one that has sparked a lot of chatter around Wall Street.
"We know the stock market doesn't just go up in a straight line," says Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. For investors, Wren says "it is helpful to look at history and realize that at some point inflation will ease, financial markets will stabilize, and the Federal Reserve will be finished hiking interest rates. While those things won't likely happen tomorrow or next week, we believe the markets are pricing in much of the bad news we expect to hear in coming months."
Wren is just a single voice of many, and here, we've rounded up what some other top minds are expecting next for stocks – including one strategist who makes a compelling case for owning both value and growth stocks in the current environment. See what they have to say.
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