US stocks rise as July rate cut seen as “all but certain”

Markets were mixed on Wednesday.

In the US, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7 percent to a record high while the S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent, touching an intraday record high in the process.

However, elsewhere, the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.2 percent and the Shanghai Composite fell 0.4 percent.

US stocks rose after Federal Reserve Jerome Powell indicated that the central bank is considering interest rate cuts.

In his testimony to the US Congress, Powell said that “economic momentum appears to have slowed in some major foreign economies, and that weakness could affect the U.S. economy”. He added that the Fed is prepared to “act as appropriate to sustain the expansion”.

“A rate cut in July is now all but certain,” said Aberdeen Standard Investments senior global economist James McCann.