Post Market Wrap: April 16, 2024

It was another choppy session, but the tone is still risk off. The S&P 500 was down for a third straight session, although only down oh point 1%. The Dow though was up oh point 3%. The NASDAQ was essentially flat. The big problem remains rising interest rates. Bond yields continue to creep upward with the yield on the 10 year Treasury closing at 4.66%. Fed chair Jay Powell says recent data showed a lack of further progress on inflation and that the recent firm inflation data. Have introduced uncertainty over whether and when the Fed will be able to cut this year. Powell did note that the economic data showed solid growth in the economy and continued strength in the labor market. That’s one reason the stock market is only about 3% off its recent highs. The economy is still strong in earnings reports. Morgan Stanley was up 2% after beating on earnings, but Bank of America was down 3% after announcing profit and revenues fell. Big tech was mixed, with NVIDIA, Micron and Microsoft all up, but Tesla and Apple again lagged. Tesla was down another 2.7%. It’s near a 52 week low, believe it or not. For CNBC Business news, I’m Bob Pisani at the New York Stock Exchange.