WGO - Fed Euphoria Keeps US Stocks On Track For More Gains: Analyst Says New Breakout Coming Soon | Benzinga

U.S. stocks appear on track to continue their record run on Thursday, with stock futures grinding solidly higher. Despite the Fed deemphasizing incoming data at its latest meeting, traders could sift through a few key data on economic activity, the manufacturing, and the housing sector. A few key earnings due after the market close will also be on investors’ radar. The broadening in the rally in the wake of rate cut hopes could bode well for the market, insulating against any pullback in overvalued tech stocks.

Cues From Previous Session:

The March Fed decision and Jerome Powell’s comments proved to be an elixir for the market on Wednesday. After bidding time until the announcement of the rate decision, stocks rallied strongly, with the three major averages closing fresh record highs. Small-caps went on to outperform their bigger counterparts.

The S&P 500 scripted highs both on an intraday basis and on a closing bias, while the Nasdaq Composite and Dow Industrials could not beat their previous intraday record despite a post-Fed decision surge.

All S&P sectors, save energy and defensive healthcare stocks, closed higher for the day, with the gains led by consumer discretionary, communication services, financial, industrial, IT, and material stocks.

“I think we dodged a bullet,” said fund manager Louis Navellier. “The FOMC statement was still very dovish. The Fed dot plot that came out was pretty close to being split between two to three rate cuts, and a small majority that wants to have three rate cuts this year,” he said.

“The only major change was next year, 2025, the Fed is only expecting three rate cuts versus the three to four cuts they were expecting before.”

The Fed may have been swayed by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, who made it clear that they were ready to start cutting rates in June, Navellier said.

Analyst ...

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