MARCH 6 — Wall Street's main indexes rose today after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in prepared remarks ahead of his congressional testimony said the central bank expects to reduce its benchmark interest rate later this year.

Powell said today that inflation had "eased substantially" since hitting 40-year highs in 2022, but that policymakers still needed "greater confidence" in its continued decline before cutting rates. The remarks came ahead of his testimony to the House Financial Services Committee later in the day.

"The comments are in line with what we expect from the Chair at this point," said Phil Blancato, chief executive officer at Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management.

"He's been very measured in what he said about the overall health of the US economy. And, from an inflationary standpoint, we're not there yet."

Most megacap growth and technology stocks rose in early trading as Treasury yields declined following Powell's remarks. AI darling Nvidia outperformed peers with an advance of 1.9 per cent.

All the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were in the green, led by information technology.

Wall Street indexes closed more than 1 per cent lower on Tuesday amid weakness in megacap stocks and as investor focus shifted to the Fed after signs of sticky inflation in February dampened hopes of early interest rate cuts.

Traders see a 72.7 per cent chance of the first rate cut this year in June, as per CME Group's FedWatch tool. At the start of 2024, they were betting on March as the starting point for the Fed's easing cycle.

Meanwhile, US private payrolls increased slightly less than expected in February, data showed today.

February's nonfarm payrolls report due on Friday will offer further clarity on the state of the labor market.

At 9:31am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 243.71 points, or 0.63 per cent, at 38,828.90, the S&P 500 was up 36.33 points, or 0.72 per cent, at 5,114.98, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 158.53 points, or 0.99 per cent, at 16,098.12.

US-listed shares of China's JD.com advanced 14.9 per cent after the e-commerce group reported fourth-quarter revenue above estimates and upsized its share repurchase program.

Shares of cryptocurrency-linked companies such as Coinbase Global and MicroStrategy gained 5.7 per cent and 10.9 per cent, respectively, as bitcoin rebounded.

CrowdStrike Holdings soared 18.8 per cent after the company forecast annual results above Wall Street estimates, lifted by strong enterprise spending on cybersecurity to counter rising online threats.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 6.28-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 3.36-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 12 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 35 new highs and 23 new lows. — Reuters