Traders were looking forward to the Federal Reserve's next move at the Jackson Hole symposium, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both hit fresh highs on Wednesday. The markets in the Asia-Pacific region are likely to open cautiously. Stocks on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq 100 all ended with increases of 0.11 percent, 0.22 percent, and 0.07 percent. The Jackson Hole Symposium will include a presentation by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday, April 12. As Asia-Pacific markets open mixed, investors' attention is focused on the Federal Reserve's tapering schedule. Because of the FDA's final approval of the Covid-19 vaccine, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, Wall Street stocks ended marginally higher on Wednesday, adding to their recent gains. It also fueled cyclically oriented sectors such as the finance, energy, industrials, and materials industries, while also raising expectations of future inflation. During the meanwhile, investors will be searching for clues about the Federal Reserve's tapering timeline at the Jackson Hole symposium. On Friday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will deliver a speech at the Federal Reserve's annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Global investors will be paying close attention to see whether the central bank intends to scale down its $120 billion per month asset purchase program by the end of the calendar year. The market, on the other hand, seems to be unconcerned, as the DXY US Dollar index fell for the fourth day in a row to 92.82 points.
Gold prices have fallen below $1,785, which had served as a support level. On Thursday, the price of crude oil climbed to $68.02 a barrel, continuing a four-day rise, although the upward momentum seems to be waning. The market seems to have priced in the prospect of tapering before the end of the year, and the Jackson Hole symposium may provide more confirmation of this. It is anticipated that the Asia-Pacific markets will open mixed on Thursday. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Thailand are among the countries with positive futures, while mainland China, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, and India are among the countries with negative futures, according to Reuters.
According to the S&P 500's final close on Wednesday, seven of the index's eleven sectors ended higher, accounting for 71.3 percent of the index's components. Among the best-performing sectors were financials (+1.21 percent ), energy (+0.72 percent ), and industrials (+0.60 percent ). The worst performers were healthcare (-0.26 percent ) and real estate (-0.18 percent ).