Stocks hit all-time highs in the run-up to the U.S. jobs report, with investors betting some of the world’s major central banks will start slashing interest rates as soon as June.
Those wagers emboldened equity bulls expecting lower borrowing costs will fuel corporate profits. While tech remained in the leadership position, an equal-weighted version of the S&P 500 — where the likes of Nvidia Corp. carry the same heft as Dollar Tree Inc. — hovered near a record. That gauge is less sensitive to gains from the largest companies — providing a glimpse of hope that the rally will broaden out.
Treasury two-year yields declined alongside the dollar after Jerome Powell said the Federal Reserve is “not far” from the level of confidence needed to ease monetary policy. He noted that interest-rate reductions “can and will begin” this year. The Fed chief also remarked he could see the case for shortening maturity of central-bank…
