20th March 2024 – Today, the Federal Open Market Committee announced they kept interest rates between 5.25%-5.5%, aligned with investors expectations. Even though they kept the rates at the same level, the signal of three possible rate cuts fueled investors’ risk appetite. Additionally, the Fed’s announcements were approached positively because since the recent data was slightly hotter than expected, investors were prepared for worse. Fed chair Jerome Powell didn’t specify when they are expecting to start the cuts but following the announcements on the finished FOMC meeting, markets are expecting a 75% probability of the first cut at the June 11-12 meeting according to CME FedWatchTool. (https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html) Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed by 1%, Nasdaq and S&P 500 increased by 1.3%, and 0.9% respectively.
Intel (INTC) is given up to $8.5 billion in CHIPS Act funding, to expand domestic chip production facilities in the US. Also, another $11 billion in loans from the CHIPS and Science Act may be available. The CHIPS Act aims to strengthen US chip manufacturing as competition with China heats up globally. The White House cited that this will support the construction and expansion of Intel facilities in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico, and Oregon, creating nearly 30,000 jobs and supporting tens of thousands of indirect jobs. Following the announcements, Intel’s share price increased by more than 4% in the pre-market session however, it closed the day at the initial level.
Samsung’s share price increased by 5% following the news about Nvidia checking out Samsung’s brand-new memory chips. These super-fast chips could be used in Nvidia’s future graphics cards, making them even more powerful. Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang complimented Samsung’s work at the Tech Conference.
Author: Kaan Pinar