By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The S&P 500 continued its uptrend on Tuesday as focus returned to signs of easing inflation after a drop earlier in the day on news that Russian missiles had landed in NATO member Poland.
Up 0.8%, up 0.1%, or 28 points, up 1.54%.
Two stray Russian missiles fell and killed two people in the NATO state of Poland, the Associated Press reported, citing an unnamed US intelligence official. The Polish government called an emergency meeting of the national security committee.
The Russian Defense Ministry has denied that its missiles hit Polish territory, calling the reports “a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation”.
The news briefly stoked geopolitical tensions, briefly boosting demand for safe-haven bonds and the dollar, but the safe-haven move faded and stocks continued to rally amid signs that inflation is cooling.
The 0.2% rise in October was well below expectations for a 0.4% rise, reinforcing “the perception that peak prices are behind us,” Stifel said in a note, after last week’s data showing a slowdown in prices consumer.
The data added to growing expectations for a slower pace of interest rates, with just 19% of traders now expecting another 75 basis point rate hike next month, down from 48% last week, according to Investing.com
As bond yields fell, tech stocks advanced. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: ) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: ) jumped more than 2%, with the latter attracting the attention of activist investor TCI Fund Management calling for the tech giant to cut costs and boost stock markets.
Chip stocks also played a big role in the broader tech meltdown, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: ) after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: ) took a more than $4 billion stake in the chip maker in the third quarter.
The stake in Taiwan Semiconductor by the ‘Oracle of Omaha’ boosted sentiment in the chip sector, sparking a wave of bullish bets on other chip makers, including Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: ), NVIDIA (NASDAQ: ) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ: :).
Walmart (NYSE: ) rallied 7%, sparking a sea of green in the retailer’s shares after it upgraded full-year guidance that beat Wall Street estimates.
The better-than-expected results came from the strength of Walmart’s food business, which is riding on strong consumer demand for lower-priced groceries.
Home Depot (NYSE: ) gained more than 1% after it said estimates beat top estimates, although unchanged guidance washed out the results “given high investor expectations around the quarter,” Goldman Sachs said in a note.
