By
Steve Muchoki
April 16th, 2024
The fact that the Nasdaq Composite is maintaining steady gains might imply that the index is on its way to making massive impressions this year.
The Nasdaq Composite became the talking point on Wall Street at the end of Wednesday’s trading session as the tech-heavy index printed its third straight positive gains of 0.23% to 15,188.39. The growth in the Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ: .IXIC) was the confirmation of a broad-based rally that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX: .DJI) surge 0.11% to 36,290.32 and the S&P 500 (INDEXSP: .INX) also ended the day in gains atop a 0.28% growth to 4,726.35.
The growth that was recorded in the stock market came on the heels of the release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figure which despite rising 7% and comes as the highest percentage growth year-on-year since 1980, it did not derail from what economists surveyed by the Dow Jones were expecting.
The gains being recorded, however, come as a complement to the menacing dip that the spike in the 10-Year Treasury Yield ushered in earlier in the year resulted in a massive slump that engulfed the stock market in the first trading week of the year.
“We’ve been saying for a while that we didn’t expect the peak in one-year inflation numbers until early 2022 and further supply chain disruptions from the omicron variant strengthen that case. But the more important question right now is the exact timing of when inflation might start to slow, since ultimately that will likely determine how aggressive the Federal Reserve … will be,” LPL Financial asset allocation strategist Barry Gilbert said in a note.
While there was a recorded rally in many tech stocks like Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) which recorded a slight growth of 0.26% to $175.53, and electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) which added $41.82 atop a 3.93% growth to $1,106.22, there were also tech stocks that weighed the Nasdaq Composite down. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: FB) slipped 0.33% to $333.26, and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) dropped 0.67% to $537.22.
Nasdaq Composite on Track for New Gains This Year?
The year is still largely shaping up and investors are watching events in the stock market very closely. The fact that the Nasdaq Composite is maintaining steady gains might imply the index is on its way to making massive impressions this year, if bearish volatility did not eventually catch up with it.
“The Nasdaq went down and bounced off of the moving 200-day moving average on Monday, and that’s kind of been where this rally sort of began,” said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives at the Schwab Center for Financial Research.
Further erratic market events are expected throughout the year as the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Senators on Tuesday that he expects interest rate increases this year along with the end of the monthly bond-buying program in March and a reduction in asset holdings. This is billed to stir a rebalance act across the board, one that might offset the early impressive gain accrued by the Nasdaq Composite and other mainstream Wall Street indices.