By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Major stock indexes rose and the S&P 500 posted a record closing high on Wednesday ahead of quarterly results from artificial intelligence leader Nvidia, while the dollar recovered slightly from the previous session’s drop despite ongoing concerns about the U.S. Federal Reserve’s independence.
A lawyer for Fed Governor Lisa Cook said she would file a lawsuit against U.S. President Donald Trump after he said he would fire her. Trump’s statement left some investors worried about the independence of the U.S. central bank.
Interest-rate sensitive two-year U.S. Treasury yields fell to an almost four-month low and the yield curve steepened as traders weighed the chance that Trump may be able to make more dovish appointments to the Fed.
Even so, the dollar traded flat to slightly higher after it dropped in the previous session. The dollar index was last up 0.02% at 98.227, while the euro touched its weakest level since August 6 and was last down 0.09% at $1.1631
The three major U.S. stock indexes ended higher.
After the closing bell, Nvidia’s shares were down about 3% even as the company forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates.
This year, strong gains for a number of technology-related stocks exposed to AI have helped power major equity indexes to record highs and the results were seen as a test of the AI optimism that has propelled markets.
“My takeaway is that these (Nvidia) numbers are not unexpected, nor is this reaction,” said Nick Frasse, product manager at Vaneck Associates in New York.
“The market has begun to factor in that Nvidia can continue to beat most expectations in spite of headwinds and questions like what they will have to pay to continue selling to China,” he added.
The company recently agreed to pay the U.S. federal government 15% of the sales it made in China in exchange for undefined export licenses.
Technology shares, including several AI leaders, have wobbled this month with investors pointing to some signs of caution emerging in the sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 147.16 points, or 0.32%, to 45,565.23, the S&P 500 added 15.46 points, or 0.24%, to 6,481.40 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 45.87 points, or 0.21%, to 21,590.14.
European stocks rebounded slightly from the previous day’s decline, with investors monitoring political risks in France. Concerns over a potential collapse of French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou’s government next month sparked a selloff of French assets on Tuesday.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.32 points, or 0.03%, to 953.04. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.1%.
Market watchers interpreted Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments at the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole symposium last week as indicating interest rate cuts could be on the way. Fed funds futures traders are pricing in 84% odds of a cut in September, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
But the outlook for U.S. interest rates will still likely depend on labor market strength and inflation trends.
The two-year note yield was last at 3.625%, down around 5 basis points on the day. The benchmark 10-year note yield fell to 4.236%, the lowest since August 14.
The yield curve between two-year and 10-year notes was last at 61.3 basis points after reaching 63.5 basis points, the steepest since April 22.
Oil gained on a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude inventories. U.S. crude futures rose 90 cents to settle at $64.15 a barrel and Brent futures gained 83 cents to settle at $68.05.
Spot gold rose 0.12% to $3,396.34 an ounce.
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch in New York; Additional reporting by Suzanne McGee, Karen Brettell, Yoruk Bahceli, Ankur Banerjee and Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Richard Chang, Nia Williams and Jamie Freed)
