Wall Street Climbs, Bargain Hunters Boost Housing and Airlines Amid Rate Cut Hopes

Stocks rebounded Friday, lifted by rate cut optimism and upbeat inflation data, as battered sectors like housing and airlines soared. Asian markets tumbled while Europe posted mixed results.

The Dow surged 493.15 points (1.1%) to 46,245.41, the Nasdaq advanced 195.03 points (0.9%) to 22,273.08 and the S&P 500 jumped 64.23 points (1%) to 6,602.99.

Stocks managed a late-week bounce, even though the major indexes still took a beating overall. Fresh hope for a December rate cutfueled by the FedWatch Tools sharp jump in odds and some dovish hints from John Williamshelped investors shake off some gloom. Softer inflation expectations from the University of Michigan didnt hurt the mood either.

 

Still, the Feds meeting minutes reminded everyone that policymakers arent exactly marching in lockstep on more cuts. With the Nasdaq and S&P 500 recently sinking to two-month lows, Fridays uptick also had the vibe of determined bargain hunters scooping up bruised shares.

Housing stocks turned in some of the market's best performances, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index soaring by 4.0%. airline stocks were substantially strong, as reflected by the 3.0% surge by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Biotechnology, oil service, healthcare and computer hardware stocks too strongly moved upwards, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Asia-Pacific stocks moved sharply lower. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index both tumbled by 2.4% while South Korea's Kospi nosedived by 3.8%. The major European markets turned in a mixed performance while the German DAX Index slid by 0.8%, the French CAC 40 Index closed just above the unchanged line and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1%.

In the bond market, treasuries extended the upward move seen over the course of the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slid 4.3 bps to 4.06%.

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