Wall Street adds to gains following surge in Chinese markets

Stocks rose in morning trade on Wednesday and Wall Street added to its gains as markets hoped there might be better news on the horizon on inflation, the war in Ukraine and other concerns. which destabilized investors.

The S&P 500 rose 1.8% at 10:17 a.m. EST and put the benchmark even further in the green for the week after a rally on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 474 points, or 1.4% to 34,021 and the Nasdaq rose 2.7%.

Tech stocks posted some of the biggest gains as investors shifted money into sectors considered riskier. Traditionally safe stocks, such as utilities and home goods manufacturers, lagged the broader market.

The broad gains followed a solid jump for equities internationally. Chinese markets soared overnight after Beijing promised to help that country’s ailing real estate sector and its internet companies. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng jumped 9.1%.

Stocks in Europe rose as Russia and Ukraine projected optimism for another round of talks scheduled for Wednesday.

Investors in the United States await the latest statement from the Federal Reserve this afternoon as the central bank shifts its policy of keeping interest rates ultra-low in an attempt to tame persistently high inflation. The Fed is expected to raise its short-term policy rate by 0.25 percentage points, which would mark its first rate hike since 2018.

Bond yields remained relatively stable ahead of the Fed’s latest statement. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.17% from 2.15% on Tuesday evening.

The Fed is trying to slow the economy enough to stem the high inflation that is sweeping the country, but not enough to trigger a recession. It’s part of a wider move by central banks around the world to end the support they provided to the global economy after the pandemic hit.

Inflation has hit its highest level in generations as the global economy recovers. Economists fear this could end up cutting spending and hurting growth. The Commerce Department’s latest retail sales report shows Americans slowed February spending on gadgets, home furnishings and other discretionary items as higher prices for food, gasoline and housing consume more of their wallet.

Inflation and the list of worries weighing on investors have made markets volatile over the past few weeks. Stocks have been swinging wildly on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. Oil prices have mostly risen on concerns that the conflict in Ukraine is squeezing energy markets.

Benchmark US crude oil prices rose 1.2%, a relatively muted move considering the huge swings it has been making recently. Prices are up nearly 30% for the year, and the recent spike has pushed U.S. gasoline prices to record highs. This heightened fears that inflation could worsen.

Elsewhere in the market, several stocks made sharp moves on company news.

Starbucks rose 7.9% after chairman and chief executive Kevin Johnson announced he would retire next month. The company’s former CEO and founder, Howard Schultz, will replace him on an interim basis.

NortonLifeLock fell 10.2% after the security software maker said its takeover of Avast was subject to further scrutiny by UK regulators.