Fed comments spark stock rally as Treasury yields retreat

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 624.16 points, rising 1.18% to 53,686.11, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.06% to close within striking distance of its record high. Tech stocks led the charge, with the Nasdaq Composite advancing 1.4% to 26,584.06. This optimism rippled through the broader market, as the yield on the two-year Treasury note dropped 0.051 percentage point to 4.332%, cooling fears that had previously pushed mortgage rates to a yearly high of 6.71%.

Investors shifted their focus back to artificial intelligence, driving significant corporate moves. Nvidia shares rose 1.8% to $228.45 following its $13 billion acquisition of startup Hugging Face. Meanwhile, Snowflake surged 17% to $356.47 on the back of strong quarterly results, and Tesla climbed 5.4% to $376.37 as the company teased a forthcoming event for its Cybercab robotaxi. These gains contrasted with a bleak day for the food sector; Tyson Foods fell 7.3% and Campbell’s dropped 7% after both companies signaled weakening consumer demand and rising costs. Despite the broader rally, structural anxiety persists in private credit. Blackstone and Cliffwater both moved to limit redemptions in their large funds to 5% of shares, citing a surge in exit requests from investors wary of the current lending environment.