Hourly Market Review - Mar 6, 2024 10 AM

U.S. stocks experienced a rise on Wednesday, with the technology sector leading the recovery after two consecutive days of losses on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.5%, the S&P 500 also gained 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.4%.

CrowdStrike's stock soared more than 17% due to strong quarterly earnings and a positive outlook, while Palantir's shares increased by over 4% after securing a significant army contract. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated in prepared remarks for appearances on Capitol Hill that the central bank might lower interest rates this year, although it is not immediately ready to reduce borrowing costs. Powell suggested that if the economy evolves as expected, it might be appropriate to start easing policy restraint at some point this year.

Investors are still in a wait-and-see mode following Powell's remarks, according to David Russell, global head of market strategy at TradeStation. However, there is a broad consensus that the future path of monetary policy is likely to involve lower rates, which is seen as less of a danger.

Tech stocks rallied, but some retailers like Nordstrom and Foot Locker experienced significant declines due to warnings of potential sales drops and weak earnings guidance, respectively. The overall market rebound on Wednesday provided a break from the previous two days of declines, especially in large-cap tech stocks.

Movers of the hour:

Airship AI Holdings is up 65.66% at $8.20.  

Dada is up 41.62% at $2.79.  

American Public Education is up 32.64% at $15.08.  

Wave Life Sciences is up 25.47% at $6.01.  

Fulcrum Therapeutics is up 23.45% at $13.53.