The stock market had a bit of a back-and-forth on Thursday as people who invest money kept a close eye on what the Federal Reserve, a large financial group, might do with interest rates.
The S&P 500, which is like a big group of major companies, went up and down, but overall it didn’t change much. This came after it had a good streak of eight straight days rising, which is the longest it has done so in two years. Another major group of companies, the Dow Jones, fell a little (0.2%), while the Nasdaq, which has many technology companies, remained practically the same.
People are curious to know about a person named Jerome Powell, who heads the Federal Reserve. They hope it will give some clues about whether interest rates could change soon. He didn’t talk about it on Wednesday, so everyone is waiting for his next speech.
Companies also tell us how well they are doing. Disney, a big entertainment company, shared that they did even better than people expected. This caused its shares to rise and could also have to do with good news about Hollywood and actors. Other media companies also benefited from this.
But not all companies had good news. Arm, a company that designs computer parts, saw its shares fall after sharing its first report since becoming a public company. Additionally, the company behind Arm, SoftBank, said it lost a lot of money last quarter, around $6.2 billion.
When it comes to things like the oil we use for energy, the price went up a little. It had dropped much earlier, and this could help ease concerns about how many people around the world are using it. Thus, the prices of two types of oil, West Texas Intermediate and Brent, rose approximately 0.5%. They are now trading at around $76 and almost $80 per barrel, which is one way we measure oil.
That’s what happened in the stock market today! Stay tuned for more updates.
Also read: Wall Street Rebounds With Support From Large-Cap Stocks Amid Fed Focus