Wall Street traders pushed stocks to another all-time high on speculation the Federal Reserve will be able to engineer a soft landing as the U.S. economy remains fairly resilient and inflation shows signs of cooling.
Equities notched their sixth straight day of gains as the latest economic data defied forecasts for a recession, bolstering the outlook for Corporate America. While such strength implies policymakers would be in no rush to cut rates, a closely watched measure of underlying inflation coming in line with the Fed’s 2 per cent target was seen by many as an encouraging signal.
“There are no recession concerns here, and to make matters even better, we don’t see any accompanying blowout growth in prices that are used in the GDP calculation,” said Charles Hepworth, investment director at GAM Investments. “Stronger growth without inflation is what everyone wants.”
The S&P 500 closed near the 4,900 mark….
