US markets end mostly in green on Monday

17 Sep 2024 Evaluate

The US markets ended mostly in green on Monday amid investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later this week, and stayed largely cautious and selective with regard to their moves. The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates, but there remains some debate about the size of the rate cut. CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 65.0 percent chance of a half point rate cut and a 35.0 percent chance of a quarter point rate cut. Whether the Fed decides to cut rates by 25 or 50 basis points, the central bank is still expected to continue lowering rates over the remainder of the year.

On the economic data front, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a report today showing regional manufacturing grew for the first time in nearly a year in the month of September. The New York Fed said its general business conditions index surged to a positive 11.5 in September from a negative 4.7 in August, with a positive reading indicating growth. Street had expected the index to inch up to a negative 3.9. With the sharp increase, the index returned to positive territory for the first time since hitting a positive 9.1 last November. The much bigger than expected increase by the headline index partly reflected a significant turnaround by new orders, as the new orders index spiked to a positive 9.4 in September from a negative 7.9 in August.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 228.3 points or 0.55 percent to 41,622.08 and S&P 500 was up by 7.07 points or 0.13 percent to 5,633.09, while Nasdaq fell 91.85 points or 0.52 percent to 17,592.13.

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