Stock Market News

Bond yields were creeping higher in afternoon trading as investors worked through further remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

“The point of our meeting, last meeting, was really to moderate the pace of our decision making,” he told the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday. Now, “the data will tell us what to do.”

Yields on the U.S. 2-year Treasury note rose to 4.791%, while yields on the 10-year Treasury note climbed to 3.793%.

Markets were mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average trading flat, the S&P 500 gaining 0.3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite increasing 0.8%.

NRG Energy was the biggest gainer in the S&P 500 Thursday trading after the company disclosed plans to buy back more stock and The Wall Street Journal reported after Wednesday's close that an activist investor is seeking a leadership change.

Elliott Investment Management is looking to oust NRG Energy’s CEO Mauricio Gutierrez and other company executives, The Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

“The Board fully supports NRG’s CEO Mauricio Gutierrez and management team and the strategy they are executing to drive substantial shareholder value,” a NRG spokesperson said in a statement issued to Barron's.

NRG announced early Thursday ahead of its investor day that the company had boosted its stock buyback plan and enacted cost-cutting measures. NRG said it was working with an independent search firm to bring expertise to its board.

Shares of NRG were up 3.7% on Thursday afternoon, trading at $35.14 each.

Corrections & Amplifications: NRG’s stock surged early Thursday morning in response to news that the company announced plans to buy back more stock and after The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday evening that an activist investor is seeking a change in management. An earlier version of this article only mentioned the Journal report and included a quotation from NRG that implied that an investor day, held Thursday, was scheduled for Friday.

The Nasdaq Composite was making strides in Thursday trading, bolstered by gains from Amazon.com, Palo Alto Networks, and Datadog, according to FactSet.

The Nasdaq was up 0.5%, while the S&P 500 was up 0.05%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, was off 55 points, or 0.2%.

Amazon.com (ticker: AMZN) stock rose 3.2% to $128.79, while Palo Alto (PANW) gained 3.4% to $247.12, and Datadog (DDOG) climbed 3.8% to $95.44.

Markets were mixed on Thursday, as investors parsed through commentary from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell before the Senate Banking Committee.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 93 points, or 0.3%, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.1%.

In his opening remarks on Thursday, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown said the Fed’s decision not to raise interest rates last week was “welcome news” for “the many of us who are concerned that further rate hikes could do more harm than good.”

Investors will be paying close attention to remarks made by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday to glean insights on the fight against inflation.

Powell is addressing the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. You can watch a livestream of the hearing here and above.

On Wednesday, Powell struck a hawkish tone when addressing the House Financial Services Committee.

“Inflation has moderated somewhat since the middle of last year,” he said. “Nonetheless, inflation pressures continue to run high, and the process of getting inflation back down to 2% has a long way to go.”

Stocks opened lower Thursday morning after three straight days of losses for the major indexes.

Testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is in focus this morning.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 68 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P 500 shed 0.3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3%.

"U.S. stocks are lower ahead of what Wall Street expects will be a second day of a hawkish Fed Chair Powell at Capitol Hill,” wrote Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.

“The global growth outlook is deteriorating quickly as major central banks are delivering more rate hikes and signaling that more tightening is coming. Aggressive tightening from here on out will torpedo the economy,” Moya added.

First-time unemployment claims stayed flat from a week ago, arriving slightly above economists’ expectations.

The U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday that for the week ended June 17, initial jobless claims came in at 264,000, unchanged from the prior week’s level. Economists surveyed by FactSet were expecting 260,000 claims in the week.

The previous week’s level was revised up 2,000 to 264,000.

“A further rise in claims could bring into question whether or not the labor market is suddenly beginning to deteriorate meaningfully,” wrote Tom Essaye, president of Sevens Report Research, prior to the economic data release.

The Bank of England increased its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 5% on Thursday, surprising economists who had largely expected an increase of a quarter-percentage point.

The increase is the 13th consecutive rate hike for the central bank of the U.K., which is coping with the highest inflation among the Group of Seven countries. Seven of the nine policymakers on the BOE’s monetary-policy committee voted for the increase.

“There had been significant upside news in recent data that indicated more persistence in the inflation process, against the background of a tight labor market and continued resilience in demand,” the BOE said in a statement.

Stocks in London were already falling ahead of the BOE announcement and dropped more steeply in the immediate aftermath. The FTSE 100 index was down 1.1%, while the British pound wavered between gains and losses against the dollar.