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Micron rises on upbeat 2025 sales view
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Lululemon leaps on strong annual outlook
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Indexes up: Dow 0.7%, S&P 500 1.1%, Nasdaq 1.5%
(Updates to late afternoon, adds NEW YORK dateline)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, March 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were higher
in afternoon trading on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500
up more than 1% each as upbeat outlooks from Micron Technology
and other companies eased some worries about the economy.
Micron shares were up 7%, boosting the Nasdaq and S&P
500, and leading gains in the PHLX semiconductor index ,
which was up 2.6%.
The memory chip maker late Tuesday forecast a drop in
third-quarter revenue in line with Wall Street expectations,
while it gave a rosy outlook for 2025 with artificial
intelligence boosting sales.
Adding to the optimism, Lululemon Athletica Inc jumped 13% after an upbeat annual results forecast.
"We had a couple of good reads into the economy from a
couple of companies," said King Lip, chief investment strategist
at BakerAvenue Wealth Management in San Francisco.
"The big one is Micron Technologies. Micron is sort of a
microcosm of the global economy because their chips go into so
many different industries and sectors. If they are optimistic
about things in terms of orders, that means the overall economy
is doing well."
The bulk of S&P 500 companies begin reporting on the first
quarter after mid-April.
Investors are also trying to gauge whether turmoil in the
banking system may be subsiding, and what that may mean for
Federal Reserve policy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 230.8 points,
or 0.71%, to 32,625.05, the S&P 500 gained 44.33 points,
or 1.12%, to 4,015.6 and the Nasdaq Composite added
173.97 points, or 1.48%, to 11,890.05.
The banking turmoil, which started earlier in March with the
collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, caused a swift selloff in the
sector shares and fueled jitters about the strength of the
economy.
The Fed has been raising interest rates to control
inflation.
Personal Consumption Expenditures data on Friday is the next
key U.S. economic report.
Fed funds futures traders are now pricing in a 47% chance of
a 25 basis points increase in May, after seeing it as a long
shot late last week.
The CBoe volatility index , Wall Street's fear gauge, fell to its lowest since March 9, reflecting easing investor anxiety. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 3.47-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.84-to-1 ratio favored advancers. The S&P 500 posted 9 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 57 new highs and 113 new lows.
(Reportign by Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by
Amruta Khandekar and Ankika Biswas; Editing by Dhanya Ann
Thoppil and Vinay Dwivedi, and Aurora Ellis)
