Investor Anticipation Drives Stock Market Surge as Trump Media & Technology Soars

On Wednesday, US stocks experienced a surge in anticipation of upcoming inflation data. Investors are particularly interested in the US core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index data for February, as it could provide insights into future interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. By 9:40 a.m. Eastern time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen by 307 points (0.8%), the S&P 500 by 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite by 0.3%. Additionally, shares of Trump Media & Technology Group saw an 18.6% increase, while Merck saw a 4.9% climb following federal approval of its Winrevair treatment.

Robinhood Markets also saw a 3.5% surge after introducing its first credit card, which boosted investor confidence on Wednesday morning. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slightly decreased to 4.22%, indicating that investors were cautious about inflation concerns and expecting rate cuts from the Federal Reserve in the future. European stock markets mostly showed positive movements, with only slight declines in Italy’s FTSE MIB and Spain’s IBEX indices due to ongoing political uncertainties in these countries.

However, Asian stock markets reported declines on Wednesday, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropping by 1.4%, China’s Shanghai Composite shedding 1.3%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rising by only 0.9%. The Japanese yen hit a new low against the US dollar after falling to its lowest level since September of last year due to increasing expectations of aggressive monetary policy measures from Japan’s central bank to boost economic growth amidst deflation concerns and trade tensions with China and the United States.

In addition to currency fluctuations, oil prices also moved significantly on Wednesday as Brent crude futures for May dropped by 0.7% to $85.66 per barrel due to concerns about global economic slowdown and oversupply fears in OPEC countries.

Finally, gold prices saw an increase on Wednesday as spot gold rose by 0