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Investing.com – Wall Street rose for the second consecutive day on Wednesday as investor sentiment was buoyed by the prospect of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates if needed.
The S&P 500 rose 7 points or 0.3% by 9:47 AM ET (13:47 GMT), while the Dow gained 91 points or 0.4% and tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was up 21 points or 0.3%.
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On Tuesday Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell hinted that the central bank could cut interest rates to support the economy in light of trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
“We do not know how or when these issues will be resolved,” Powell said, adding that the Fed would “act as appropriate to sustain” the economy.
Technology stocks were higher after the bell, with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) up 2% and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) rising 0.7%, while Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) gained 0.7%.
Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) jumped 3.4% on upbeat earnings and guidance for 2020, while Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB) surged 7% after lifting its earnings outlook on growing demand for its snack products.
GameStop (NYSE:GME) slumped 35% after reporting a double-digit decline in sales as the gaming retailer loses customers to online game-streaming services. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) fell 1.5%, while Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) slipped 0.7% and Micron (NASDAQ:MU) was down 1.3%.
In commodities, gold futures jumped 1% to $1,341.95 a troy ounce, although it pared gains after hitting its highest in nearly four months, while crude oil lost 1.4% to $52.74. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.1% to 96.887.
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