News Desk

The Advocate Post: US stocks had their best trading days since November 2022, after a surprise drop in unemployment claims helped ease concerns about a slowing economy.

The S&P 500 benchmark index finished the day 2.3% higher. The Nasdaq surged 2.9%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.8%.

The largest publicly traded firms in the UK saw a little increase in their stock index on Friday as worries about the US economy subsided. The FTSE 100 increased by 0.7% in London. The Paris and Frankfurt stock market indexes moved in parallel.

“The latest jobless claims data, though not normally a major market event, supports the view that recent pessimism may have been overdone,” UBS Global Wealth Management stated.

The US Labor Department released official statistics this week that revealed the country’s first-time jobless benefit claims had decreased to 233,000, which was less than anticipated.

Even if it seems like the world markets are rebounding, economists caution that trading will probably be erratic for the time being.

For investors, “the market volatility is creating trading opportunities over the short term,” 

“It will be a bumpy ride over the election season and we all await the [US Federal Reserve] policy decision in September.”

While interest rate cuts normally spur growth, the Federal Reserve refrained from doing so last week, unlike other central banks like the Bank of England.

However, the market turbulence this week fueled more conjecture regarding the timing and magnitude of the Fed’s loan cost reduction.

According to Jun Bei Liu, portfolio manager at Tribeca Investment Partners, “[The] Fed is now likely to cut rates up to 50bps in September which in turn supports expanding valuation for the market.”