Stock Market Today: Dow Rides Hopes for 'Fed Pivot' to Close Higher

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com -- The Dow soared for a second straight day Tuesday, riding high on hopes that the Fed could pivot from its hawkish path of monetary policy tightening as data showed signs of slowing labor demand.  

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.8%, or 826 points, the Nasdaq was up 3.3%, and the S&P 500 rose 3%.

Job openings fell to the lowest since June last year, and were “very broad-based and spanned most industries and all business sizes,” Jefferies said in a note.

If the slowdown in labor demand continues and core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, “falls as much as we expect the Fed will not be hiking by 125bp by the year end,” Pantheon Macroeconomics said Tuesday.

Treasury yields continued their retreat in the wake of bets of a less hawkish Fed, helping growth sectors of the economy including tech to build on Monday’s gain.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) ended up 2.5%, while Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose more than 3%. 

Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), meanwhile, jumped 22% as Elon Musk is reportedly set to end his legal battle with the social media giant and proceed to acquire the firm at the previously agreed $54.20 per share.

The u-turn from Musk is “a clear sign that Musk recognized heading into Delaware Court that the chances of winning [against] Twitter board was highly unlikely,” Wedbush said in a note.

Energy stocks were the biggest sector outperformer as oil prices climbed 3% a day ahead of an OPEC+ meeting Wednesday that is expected to culminate in a decision to curb oil production.

Hess (NYSE:HES), Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) and Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) were among the biggest gainers, each up more than 6%.

In other news, Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN) jumped nearly 14% after the electric pickup truck maker said it remained on track to produce 25,000 vehicles in 2022.

Other automakers were also in the ascendency as General Motors (NYSE:GM) rose more than 8%, while Ford Motor (NYSE:F) was up almost 8% after reporting a 16% jump in third-quarter sales.