Tech Lifts Nasdaq as Dollar Surges Most in a Month: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks climbed and the dollar jumped to a two-week high after the Federal Reserve cited a strong economy when it raised interest rates.

Gains in the largest tech companies made the Nasdaq the best performing major gauge, with both Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. up about 2 percent. The likelihood of more Fed rate increases stretching into next year helped lift the greenback the most in a month. Argentina’s peso weakened a fourth day even after the country won a promise of extra cash from the International Monetary Fund. Ten-year Treasury yields held steady; the euro fell.

Volume in the S&P 500 Index was about 9 percent below average as some traders turned their attention to a U.S. Senate panel hearing testimony from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and a woman who accuses him of sexual assault.

U.S. stock traders brushed aside concerns that trade tensions could increase and accepted the outlook for higher borrowing costs a day after Fed officials signaled policy tightening was here to stay, even as President Donald Trump said he was “not happy” about Wednesday’s rate increase. He also struck a downbeat tone about trade talks with Canada, and accused China of trying to interfere in U.S. congressional elections in November.

“The stock market’s telling me the trade thing is not that big of a deal,” said Jeffrey Saut, the chief investment strategist at Raymond James. “Trump always asks for the moon and then walks back his position and declares victory.”

Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 ended higher after declines in Asian shares. The euro fell with Italian bonds and equities before Italy’s coalition government agreed on a 2019 budget deficit. Crude climbed as U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said the nation’s strategic oil reserves won’t be tapped to expand global supplies.

The latest on the Italian budget can be found in Bloomberg’s update.

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 Index rose 0.3 percent as of the close of trading in New York
• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.3 percent.
• The MSCI All-Country World Index was little changed.
• Italy’s FTSE MIB Index sank 0.6 percent.
• The Nikkei 225 fell 1 percent, breaking an eight-day winning streak.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.5 percent to the highest since Sept. 11.
• The euro fell 0.8 percent to $1.1651.
• The pound fell 0.7 percent to $1.308.
• The Japanese yen declined 0.6 percent to 113.38 per dollar.
• The Turkish lira advanced 1.7 percent to the strongest in a month.
• The MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index increased 0.2 percent.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 3.05 percent.
• Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.53 percent.
• Britain’s 10-year yield edged higher to 1.6 percent.
• Italy’s 10-year yield rose three basis points to 2.88 percent.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude advanced 0.9 percent to $72.20 a barrel, approaching the highest in almost four years.
• Copper dropped 1.8 percent to $2.7765 a pound.
• Gold declined 0.9 percent to $1,184.12 an ounce, the weakest since mid-August.

--With assistance from Adam Haigh, Andreea Papuc, Cormac Mullen, Christopher Anstey, Eddie van der Walt, Yakob Peterseil and Andrew Cinko.

To contact the reporters on this story: Brendan Walsh in Austin at bwalsh8@bloomberg.net;Vildana Hajric in New York at vhajric1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Brendan Walsh

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