The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 130.98 points or 0.6 percent to a new record closing high of 23,958.47, the S&P 500 edged down 0.30 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,890.59 and the Dow fell 74.37 points or 0.2 percent to 47,632.00.
Wall Street experienced late-day volatility after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's remarks tempered optimism following the Fed's widely expected quarter-point rate cut to a 3.75%'4.0% range. Powell cautioned that another cut in December is 'not a foregone conclusion,' revealing sharp divisions among Fed officials and emphasizing uncertainty caused by delayed government data.
His comments sparked a swift market reaction, with the CME FedWatch Tool showing the probability of unchanged rates in December surging to 34.1% from 9.1% a day earlier. Despite the caution, tech stocks helped the Nasdaq advance as investors eagerly awaited earnings from Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Microsoft after the market close.
Computer hardware stocks were substantially strong, driving the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index up by 6.3 percent to a record closing high. Seagate Technology (STX) led the sector higher, skyrocketing by 19.1 percent after the data storage company reported better than expected fiscal first quarter results. Oil service stocks also continued to turn in a strong performance amid a rebound by the price of crude oil, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index jumping by 2.6 percent. Airline stocks notably moved downwards, resulting in a 1.4 percent loss by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.
Asia-Pacific stocks moved mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 2.2 percent and South Korea's Kospi shot up by 1.8 percent, with both indexes reaching new record closing highs. Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index slid by 0.6 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries came under pressure in late-day trading in reaction to Powell's comments. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, jumped 7.5 basis points to 4.058 percent.
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