Wall Street Rallies Most in 3 Weeks Amid Absence of Fed Interest Rates Hike Chatter

NEW YORK (Sputnik) - Wall Street staged its biggest one-day rally in more than three weeks on Tuesday as equities bulls took the opportunity to chase stock prices higher amid the absence of Federal Reserve chatter on July’s upcoming interest rates hike.

The US central bank officials are refraining from making comments about interest rates and inflation in customary observance of the ten-day moratorium on speeches before the July 27 meeting of its policy-making Federal Open Market Committee.

“US stocks surged in a broad-based rally as investors assessed the earnings outlook and speculation grew that markets were on the verge of bottoming out,” ForexLive said in a market commentary.

The S&P 500 index, representing the top 500 US stocks, closed up 2.8%, gaining its most in a day since June 24.  For the year though, the S&P 500 was down more than 17%, after showing an annual loss of 20% in recent weeks that indicated a bear market.

The Nasdaq Composite, which comprises marquee technology names such as Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google, settled up 3.1%, almost its most since June 24. For the year, the tech barometer was down 25%.

The Nasdaq Composite proved to be the outlier of the three US indices as it also fell 1% on the day. For the year, the tech barometer was down 28%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, comprising stocks of 30 large US corporations, fell 0.6% on the day. For the year, it was down 15%.

Bank of America said in its latest Monthly Fund Manager Survey that investors were on high alert for signs that high inflation and monetary tightening were squeezing consumers and employment, with allocation to stocks plunging to October 2008 lows, while the rush to hold cash surged to 2001 highs.