Investors also digested a full plate of earnings reports, including share-price gains in Exxon Mobil Corp and United Parcel Service Inc following their results, countered by declines in Caterpillar Inc and McDonald’s Corp.
U.S. labor costs increased at their slowest pace in a year in the fourth quarter as wage growth slowed, Labor Department data showed. The U.S. central bank on Wednesday is expected to hike the Fed funds rate by 25 basis points, following a 2022 in which the Fed aggressively boosted rates to control soaring inflation.
The labor cost data is “indicating that maybe what the Fed has done is working and … we’re rounding the corner on interest rate hikes,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 59.39 points, or 1.48%, to end at 4,077.16 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 190.99 points, or 1.68%, to 11,584.55. The Dow Jones Industrial…
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