NY Stock Market Closes Strong... Nvidia Surges on Speaker of the House Effect

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The major indices of the New York stock market closed higher, overcoming concerns about asset purchase tapering and the spread of the Delta variant.

On the 20th (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 225.96 points (0.65%) to close at 35,120.08, the S&P 500 index increased by 35.87 points (0.81%) to 4,441.67, and the Nasdaq index climbed 172.87 points (1.19%) to finish at 14,714.66.

With intense attention on whether tapering will be mentioned at next week's Jackson Hole meeting, signs of possible changes in discussions within the Fed have been detected.

'Hawkish' Robert Kaplan, President of the Dallas Federal Reserve, said, "The most significant factor is the trajectory of the Delta virus," adding, "We will closely examine the Delta variant until the September Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting." This marks a step back from the previous stance advocating a September tapering announcement.

According to The New York Times, as of the previous day, the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases was 143,827, a 44% increase compared to two weeks ago. The daily average number of deaths was 911, a 108% increase from two weeks prior.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was slightly higher than the previous day, forming at 1.255%. The dollar index fell slightly, dropping 0.13% to 93.470.

The spread of the Delta variant and the strong dollar pulled oil prices down by 9% this week. On this day, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil closed at $62.32 per barrel, down $1.37 (2.15%).

By stock, Nvidia surged 5% on news that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi purchased shares and call options.

Tesla rose over 1% after announcing plans to unveil a new AI chip for supercomputers and a humanoid robot.

Major tech stocks including Apple, Alphabet, Facebook, and Microsoft all showed strength. Cisco and Salesforce.com also rose.

CNBC analyzed that concerns about economic slowdown due to the spread of the Delta variant led the tech stocks' rally.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.