U.S. stocks skyrocketed higher on Tuesday, clawing their way back from a big beating over the past month, after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell intimated that the central bank was open to relaxing its monetary policy to save the economy, and as trade tensions eased amid comments by China and Mexico.
“The market wanted to hear from Powell. When Powell says ‘we are watching the market’ — whether it’s right or wrong — the market starts believing in a Powell put,” said Keith Lerner, chief market strategist at SunTrust Private Wealth. He also noted “sentiment became extremely negative on a short-term basis.”
Almost all the market sectors were green today, and a number of ETFs showed positive gains, echoing the sanguine market reactions to Powell.
The S&P Smallcap Health Care Invesco ETF (PSCH), which tracks healthcare companies principally engaged in the business of providing healthcare-related products, facilities and services, including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical technology and supplies, was up nearly 3.5% Tuesday.
The Dynamic Semiconductors Invesco ETF (PSI), which is comprised of common stocks of 30 US semiconductors companies, was up handily today as well, over 4.5% Tuesday.
Investors have been calling for a Fed rate cut for some time now, fearing that trade wars on multiple fronts and generalized global uncertainty could send the market into a recession.
“We find the impact of Trump’s trade war and more broadly a shortening timeline for the Fed’s impending ‘insurance cut,’” Steven Blitz, chief U.S. economist at TS Lombard, wrote in a note. “Even if Trump ends it more quickly than currently anticipated, the lagged impact of tight money (as indicated by the curve late last year) now meeting up with fading fiscal stimulus suggests a cut is warranted sooner than later.”
Tuesday’s rally comes after the major indexes took abuse in the previous session amidst worries over harsher regulations on big tech companies. The Nasdaq fell into correction territory, pressured by Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple. All of these big tech companies rebounded strongly on Tuesday.
“Perhaps the market was looking for any incremental news on trade. It started with that Washington Post story to create this bounce or reflex rally,” said Hank Smith, co-CIO at Haverford Trust. “We’re in for a choppy summer.”
Despite the huge rally, some analysts are still cautious this is a sustainable move.
We gotta watch this to see if there’s a change in character for the overall market,” Mike Santoli explained on CNBC earlier.
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