[New York Stock Exchange] Oil Prices Down, Tech Stocks Up... S&P 500, Nasdaq Rise Over 1%

Nvidia, Amazon, and Microsoft Lead Gains
International Oil Prices Decline by Around 2%

As international oil prices reversed their downward trend and investor sentiment improved, particularly in technology stocks, all three major U.S. stock indices were simultaneously rising on the New York Stock Exchange on September 17 (local time).

As of 10:30 a.m. at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading at 51,771.84, up 309.94 points (0.60%) from the previous trading day. The S&P 500 Index, focusing on large-cap stocks, rose 75.72 points (1.00%) to 7,627.53, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Index increased by 421.77 points (1.62%) to 26,400.20.

On this day, technology stocks were leading the market rally. Among the so-called "Magnificent 7," Nvidia was up 2.76%, Amazon 2.54%, and Microsoft 1.58%. Qualcomm, an artificial intelligence (AI)-related stock, climbed 3.56%, and Intel advanced by 8.31%. Among industrial stocks, Caterpillar also surged by more than 2%.

The decline in U.S. Treasury yields also bolstered investor sentiment. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury, which serves as the global benchmark for bond yields, fell by more than 5 basis points (1bp=0.01 percentage point) from the previous day to 4.949%, dropping below the 5% mark. The 10-year yield had surpassed 5% the previous day following the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate hike.

International oil prices also fell. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for October delivery was down 1.83% from the previous session, trading at $100.56 per barrel. On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent crude for November delivery was down 2.69% from the previous session, at $102.98 per barrel.

This was due to reports that Saudi Arabia decided to supply more oil to Asian refiners by ship-to-ship transfers near the port of Sohar in Oman, easing concerns over supply disruptions.

On the previous day, the Federal Reserve raised its federal funds target range by 0.25 percentage points, from 3.50%~3.75% to 3.75%~4.00%, at the September meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Fed Chair Kevin Warsh explained the rationale for the rate hike at a press conference, stating, "Inflation is too high and has remained elevated for too long."

The previous day, all three major indices fell as speculation about a continued tightening policy was triggered by Chair Warsh's remarks that "some of the accommodative policy has been withdrawn."

On this day, U.S. initial jobless claims unexpectedly declined, indicating that the labor market continues to demonstrate stability.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor on September 17 (local time), initial jobless claims for the week of September 6 to 12 fell by 10,000 from the previous week to 196,000. This is the lowest since July 12-18 (188,000) and is below the 207,000 forecast by Dow Jones-surveyed experts.

Mark Haefele, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of UBS Global Wealth Management, analyzed, "If monetary tightening proceeds gradually, credit spreads remain stable, and corporate profits continue to rise, the stock market rally could spread across multiple sectors and regions."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.