Stock Market Sees Small Gains as Interest Rates Rise
Stocks show modest gains amidst rising interest rates. Investors await Federal Reserve Chair's speech. Treasury yields continue to climb.
The stock market showed a small improvement after a recent drop. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was slightly above its starting point. The S&P 500 went up by a little bit, and the Nasdaq Composite increased the most.
Interest rates, which are like the price of borrowing money, went up for the fourth day in a row. This made it a bit harder for stocks to do well. People who invest in the stock market kept a close eye on what's happening in the Middle East.
A special number called the "10-year yield" got very close to 5%. This number hasn't been this high in 16 years. Another special number, the "2-year yield," which helps us know what people expect about interest rates, went up to the highest point since 2006, which is a long time ago.
Jerome Powell, who is in charge of the Federal Reserve, said some things on Thursday that people paid a lot of attention to. They wanted to know if the Federal Reserve plans to make borrowing money more expensive. This is because even though some things are tough right now, the US economy is still doing pretty well. Some experts are wondering if the Federal Reserve should change how much they think prices should go up.
People who invest in the stock market are also keeping an eye out for how higher interest rates might affect companies. Right now, we're in a time when many companies are reporting how they did in the last few months.
The boss of Tesla, Elon Musk, said on Wednesday that he's a bit worried. He thinks that if it costs more to borrow money, some people might not be able to afford Tesla's electric cars. This came after Tesla didn't do quite as well as expected. Because of this, Tesla's shares dropped by about 5% before the stock market opened.
On a different note, Netflix, which many people use to watch shows and movies, had some good news. Their shares went up by about 14% before the market opened. They said that a lot more people signed up to use their service, and they're going to charge a bit more in the US.
Also Read: Tensions in Middle East and Earnings Reports Affect Stock Market
