On the evening of September 23, US stocks maintained a slight volatility trend at the beginning of the trading session. As of the time of writing, $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ up 0.03%, $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ Rise 0.26%, $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ it increased by 0.23%.

Last week, the Federal Reserve decided to cut interest rates by a substantial 50 basis points, marking the first rate cut in four years and signaling a shift in the institution's stance from fighting inflation to boosting the job market. The dot plot from last week also showed that Fed officials predict a median of another 50 basis points cut in the remaining two meetings this year.

The decision to cut interest rates by 50 basis points boosted the US stock market, leading to a cumulative weekly increase of 1.3% for the three major stock indexes, marking the second consecutive week of gains.

Although price trends indicate that funds typically benefit from the decline in borrowing costs for small cap stocks, hedge funds have taken a different approach, pouring into the largest tech stocks. According to Goldman Sachs' weekly report as of September 20, hedge funds last week bought US technology stocks, media stocks, and telecommunication stocks at the fastest pace in four months.

Last Friday, the Dow closed at a record high, staying above the 42,000 level. The S&P 500 index also hit a historical record midweek.

Lazard's Chief Market Strategist Ronald Temple stated: 'I believe the Fed's rate cut is a signal that if faced with an excessively weak labor market, when the Fed needs a targeted easing policy, it is willing to act quickly.'

Ronald Temple said: 'The reality is that whether it's a 25 or 50 basis points rate cut, it won't substantially alter the recent economic trajectory. But this signal is still important, with the market reacting the next day by pushing the S&P 500 to record highs.'

Investors closely watched speeches given by several Fed officials on Monday, including Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, to gain a deeper insight into the central bank's next steps.

Atlanta Fed President Bostic stated that launching the Fed's easing cycle with a substantial rate cut will bring interest rates closer to neutral levels, but officials should not make a commitment to maintaining the tone of significant interest rate cuts.

He stated that last week the Fed's monetary policy meeting cut rates by 50 basis points, but did not 'lock in' the pace of future rate cuts. The latest 'dot plot' shows a 'considerable' level of internal disagreement within the Fed; the range of views on future development paths and discussions on the neutral interest rate are 'strong.'

Bostic said that the Fed is not in a hurry to achieve the neutral interest rate, inclined not to rush to make judgments or assume that inflation issues have been resolved. He believes the neutral interest rate is in the range of 3% to 3.25%; as rates decline, the Fed will delve deeper into using models and surveys of consumers and businesses to estimate the neutral interest rate.

Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari published an article on the bank's website on Monday supporting a further 0.5 percentage point rate cut this year. He supported the Fed's rate cut action last week.

Kashkari said U.S. inflation has significantly cooled and is near the Fed's 2% target, while the labor market is starting to show signs of weakness. He stated: 'The balance of risks has shifted from rising inflation to further weakening in the labor market, so it is necessary to lower the federal funds rate.'

Kashkari does not have voting rights this year on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), but he also participated in monetary policy deliberations.

Key sectors & stocks

Growth tech stocks rallied, with Tesla up nearly 4%, Micron Technology up over 3%, Intel up over 2%, Meta Platforms and Netflix up over 1%, Nvidia slightly up; Broadcom down nearly 1%.

China concept stocks mostly rose, KE Holdings up over 5%, JD.com up over 3%, PDD Holdings up over 2%, Alibaba nearly 2%; Miniso down nearly 15%, Nio Inc down over 3%.

Cryptocurrency sector stocks are rising, with TeraWulf up more than 9%, Iris Energy up nearly 5%, Riot Platforms and MicroStrategy up nearly 2%, Coinbase up more than 1%, Marathon Digital and CleanSpark up more than 5%.

Following a 3.31% increase last Friday, $Intel (INTC.US)$ Further up by about 2%, rumors of Qualcomm's intention to acquire, and private equity firm Apollo's intention to invest $5 billion.

$Novo-Nordisk A/S (NVO.US)$ Falling over 3%, facing questioning from the US Senate due to issues with weight loss drug prices.

$MINISO (MNSO.US)$ A sharp drop of nearly 15% at the opening; news-wise, Miniso invested around $6.3 billion in Yonghui Superstores, acquiring a 29.4% stake to become the largest shareholder.

$NIO Inc (NIO.US)$ US stocks fell more than 3%, denying the rumors of acquiring the Audi Brussels plant.

Editor / jayden