TheStreet's J.D. Durkin brings the latest business headlines from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as markets close for trading Thursday, November 2.
Full Video Transcript Below:
J.D. DURKIN: I'm J.D. Durkin - reporting from the New York Stock Exchange.
Stocks were in the green to close out today's session. The Dow closed up over 500 points, the Nasdaq closed up 1.7 percent, and the S&P closed 1.8 percent higher. This rally came after recent data revealed that inflation and the labor market are slowing, giving investors hope that the Fed could be nearing the end of its interest rate hike cycle.
Separately, Wall Street is eagerly awaiting the release of Apple's third-quarter earnings which come out this evening. Apple is the last of the tech giants to release results. So far, over half of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported earnings, and of those, a majority have seen better than expected results.
In other news -- we're quickly approaching the holiday shopping season, and retailers are predicting it will be slower than normal.
According to the National Retail Federation, holiday sales will increase by 4 percent this year. And while an increase is never a bad thing – over the last decade, sales have usually jumped, on average, 5 percent year-over-year.
According to NRF CEO Matthew Shay, "There are some headwinds impacting consumers. Consumers are becoming more cautious." Some of those headwinds include inflation, higher interest rates, and the resumption of student loan repayments.
But consumers say they're still willing to spend. According to an NRF survey, shoppers plan to spend an average of $875 on holiday items this year, a $42 increase from 2022. But they also said they'll be more vigilant than ever in sniffing out the best deals, with around 60 percent saying sales and promotions are more important to them than they were last year.
That'll do it for your daily briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I'm J.D. Durkin with TheStreet.
