Stocks Drift Higher On Stronger GDP Data, Oil Rebounds As OPEC+ Mulls Cuts: What's Driving Markets Wednesday?

Stocks are experiencing their 16th green session out of the 20 so far in November, with the S&P 500 index reaching its highest level since early August, and the Nasdaq 100 just 4.4% below its all-time highs set in November 2021.

The second estimate of the U.S. GDP for the third quarter revealed an expansion of 5.2% in Q3, surpassing earlier projections of 4.9%, marking the most rapid growth rate in almost two years.

Even the hawkish comments from Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin failed to shake the stock market, and investors are now pricing in the start of rate cuts in May 2024 with an 80% probability, anticipating five cumulative cuts by December 2024 with a 58% probability.

Barkin mentioned that he is not ruling out the possibility of another rate hike, and believes that inflation will prove to be more stubborn than the Fed would prefer.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury remained below the 4.3% mark on Wednesday, staying at a level not seen in over two months.

On a different note, the Wall Street Journal reported that OPEC+ is contemplating new oil production cuts of up to 1 million barrels per day. This move, likely to drive oil prices higher, may be announced on Thursday during a virtual meeting of the cartel.

WTI crude oil traded 1.5% higher to $77.7 a barrel as of 1:00 p.m. in New York.

Performance Of US Stock Indices Wednesday

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY rose 0.26% to $456.17.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF DIA edged 0.5% higher to $355.72. 
• The Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ rose 0.25% to $391.18.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM soared 1.07% to $179.95, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Chart Of The Day: The US Economy Just Had Its Best Quarter In 2 Years

Sector, Industry ETF Performance

Real estate and financials were the sector outperformers on Wednesday, with the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund XLRE and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund XLF, up 1.5% and 1.4%, respectively.

Consumer staples as tracked by the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund XLP were the laggard, down 0.8%.

Regional banks were the spotlight among equity industries, with the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF KRE up 3.4%.

Stocks In Focus

• General Motors Co. GM rallied 10% as the carmaker announced a $10 billion buyback program and raised its dividend.
• Workday, Inc. WDAY rallied nearly 12% following the release of its quarterly results.
• Crowdstrike Holdings, Inc. CRWD rose 10% as momentum improved following its quarterly results.
• GameStop Corp. GME surged more than 25%, extending gains of over 40% over the past two sessions, ahead of next week’s earnings report.
• NetApp, Inc. NTAP soared over 15%, in reaction to its earnings report.
• Other companies moving after their earnings reports are, Bilibili Inc. BILI (down about 10%), Dollar Tree, Inc. DLTR (up about 3.5%), Foot Locker, Inc. FL (up about 17%), Donaldson Company, Inc. DCI (up about 17%)
• Those reporting after the close include Five Below, Inc. FIVE, Nutanix, Inc. NTNX, Okta, PVH Corp. PVH, Salesforce, Inc. CRM, Synopsys, Inc. SNPS, Snowflake Inc. SNOW, Zuora, Inc. ZUO and Victoria’s Secret & Co. VSCO.

Commodities, Bonds, Other Global Equity Markets And Crypto

The United States Oil Fund, LP USO, which tracks the performance of light sweet crude, was 1.5% higher.

Gold, as monitored through the SPDR Gold Trust GLD, inched 0.3% higher to $2,046/oz. Silver edged 0.2% higher to $25.05.

Treasury yields fell, with yields on the 2-year and 10-year note declining by 9 and 5 basis points, respectively. Long-dated Treasury yields also eased, with the 30-year yield down 4 basis points to 4.46%. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT rallied 1%.

European equity indices had a robust session of gains. The SPDR DJ Euro STOXX 50 ETF FEZ rose 0.8% higher.

Bitcoin BTC/USD was 2.7% higher to $38,241, while Ethereum ETH/USD rose 2.3% to $2,072.

Shanthi Rexaline contributed to this report.

Read Next: S&P 500 At 5,000 In 2024? Bank of America’s Optimistic Forecast Diversifies Beyond Magnificent 7

Photo: Shutterstock.