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Yiwen Lu

Stocks soar after the Fed green-lights an easing cycle

Major indexes rose on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell said that it was time for a rate cut. Both S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 gained 1.2%. Small caps took the lead in the market boom, with the Russell 2000 up 3.2%. 

The US Dollar index was down 0.8% to 100.7, hitting the lowest point since July 2023. 

The 10-year Treasury yield fell 6.5 basis points to 3.8%, slightly up from earlier in the day at 3.79%, which was close to the bond yield's 2024 low. The policy-sensitive two-year Treasury yield was down 10 basis points to 3.91%. 

All S&P 500 sector ETFs rallied. Real estate was the best-performing sector, up 2%, followed by consumer discretionary, buoyed by Carnival’s 7.5% advance and Norwegian Cruise Line 7.8% gain.

Big tech stocks also climbed after Thursday's sell-off. In particular, Tesla jumped 4.6% and Nvidia surged 4.5%.

Intuit was the worst S&P 500 performer. Shares closed with a 6.8% loss, as the owner of Turbo Tax reported earnings that beat estimates but issued poor guidance.

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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