On today’s episode of Market Domination Overtime, hosts Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton break down the market close and discuss some of the biggest news stories of the trading day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) closed above flat levels on Friday, while the Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC) and S&P 500 Index (^GSPC) fell during the trading session. Overall, the three market indexes ended another week of gains around their five-day moving averages following the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates.
Ron Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard, argues that the market is “well positioned to continue to rise over the long and medium term.” He believes the Fed’s 50 basis point rate cut “essentially bought insurance against too much weakness in the labor market.” He adds, “If you combine that with a strong corporate sector, a strong household sector and good corporate earnings, the market can continue to function going forward.”
According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Qualcomm (QCOM) has approached Intel (INTC) about a potential acquisition. Corey Johnson, chief market strategist at Futurum Group, explains that this would be the biggest deal in the history of the semiconductor industry.
With just a month and a half until the election, Yahoo Finance senior columnist Rick Newman weighs in on how voters are evaluating the contrasting economic policies of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Newman notes that Harris and Trump are neck and neck on the economic front. Economic policy was once one of Trump’s biggest advantages over President Biden, but since dropping out of the race, Harris has “totally negated” that advantage, he explains.
Friday’s market close marked the end of a “triple witching” session in which a combined $5.1 trillion in equity index futures, equity index options and equity options expired simultaneously. Brett Kenwell, U.S. investment and options analyst at EToro, told Yahoo Finance: “In terms of the options market, today was the fourth-biggest expiration day of the year and we’ve seen some very intense action leading up to today’s session.”
Finally, Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton break down what to watch next week, from Fed comments to August personal consumption expenditures (PCE) data.
This post was written by Melanie Leal