Stocks rose on Wall Street Wednesday, led by big gains in travel-related companies as energy prices drop.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and remains on track for a modest gain in a holiday-shortened week ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 178 points, or 0.5% to 35,266 and the Nasdaq rose 0.6% as of 11:49 a.m. Eastern.
Crude oil prices sank 4% after OPEC said it would postpone its latest conference to next week. The oil cartel has been maintaining a tight market for crude oil with production cuts.
The sharp slide for oil prices helped airlines and other companies that stand to benefit from lower fuel costs. United Airlines rose 4.1% and cruise line Carnival rose 4%,
Stocks in Asia and Europe were mostly mixed and trading was tapering off ahead of holidays in the U.S. and Japan, with few data releases to give markets direction. Markets will be closed in the U.S. on Thursday for Thanksgiving and will close early on Friday.
Wall Street remained relatively quiet ahead of the long holiday weekend in the U.S.
Broadcom fell 0.2% after announcing that it expects to complete its $69 billion deal to acquire VMWare on Wednesday after clearing all regulatory hurdles.
The latest round of corporate earnings is coming to a close and several well-known retailers reported their latest financial results. Department store operator Nordstrom fell 4% after trimming its profit forecast for the year. Clothing retailer Guess slumped 7.8% after cutting its financial forecast.
Tractor maker Deere, a bellwether for the agricultural industry, fell 4.6% after giving Wall Street a discouraging financial forecast and industry outlook.
A consumer sentiment survey by the University of Michigan showed that confidence remains strong. Wall Street has been closely watching consumer spending and confidence reports for more clues on the economy’s path ahead.
Forecasts for a potential recession have been pushed further out into 2024 while also being softened. The rate of inflation continues to ease, consumer spending remains solid and the economy is generally humming along. That has encouraged hopes, and bets, that the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates and could soon consider cutting rates.
Fed officials, though, have said the outlook for the economy remains uncertain and they’ll make upcoming decisions on rates based on incoming reports. The Fed will get another big update next week when the government releases its October report for a key inflation measure tracked by the central bank.
