S&P 500 rides tech higher as yields pause rally ahead of Powell, inflation data

Investing.com -- The S&P 500 jumped Thursday, led by big tech as Treasury yields took a breather ahead of speech from Federal Reserve Jerome Powell and key inflation data slated for Friday.  

The S&P 500 rose 0.5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3%, 91 points, Nasdaq rose 0.8%.

Big Tech rebounds as Treasury yields pause rally ahead of Powell speech, inflation data

Big tech including Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) helped the broader market rebound from its recent malaise as U.S. Treasury yields eased from recent highs.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is set to deliver a speech at a town hall meeting with educators at 4pm ET. The chief will be fielding questions from the audience, with investors eager to see whether he may walk back his hawkish comments from a week ago. 

Powell's remarks come a day ahead of key inflation data, expected to show that core inflation remained steady last month, and continued to slow in the 12 months through August.  

AMD pushes chips higher to shrug off Micron slump

Chip stocks also supported the broader move higher in tech following a rally in Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) that offset a slump in Micron.   

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) fell more than 4% after its forecast for bigger losses for its fiscal first quarter overshadowed better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

Analysts, however, continued to back the memory chipmaker amid signs that the supply glut overhang is easing.

“More broadly though, we think the path of least resistance is clearly to the upside here as demand, pricing, and profitability are all turning,” {{0|USB said as it maintained its buy rating and $76 price target on the stock.

CarMax feels pain from waning used car demand; Peloton, Lululemon team up

CarMax Inc (NYSE:KMX) fell more than 10% after the used-car retailer reported second-quarter earnings that fell short of Wall Street estimates as pressure on consumers hurt demand for used cars.

The company flagged ongoing “vehicle affordability challenges” as a headwind amid “widespread inflationary pressures, higher interest rates, tightened lending standards.”

Peloton Interactive (NASDAQ:PTON), meanwhile, struck a partnership with Lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU) to supply its fitness-related content to athletic apparel company.  Under the partnership, Lululemon will become Peloton’s primary athletic apparel partner.

The deal furthers Peloton’s goal to simplify its business, UBS says, by outsourcing the apparel business.

Peloton would also be able to leverage its content library, gaining access to a “targeted pool of potential members, as the partnership gives LULU's Studio members access to Peloton content,” it added.