US stocks shrug off Fed speak to continue march higher By Investing.com

Investing.com — U.S. stocks rallied Monday, shrugging off attempts from Federal Reserve officials to cool expectations fo sooner rather than later rate cuts. 

By 14:20 ET (19:20 GMT), the was up 11 points, or 0.1%, index rose 0.6%, and the climbed 0.8%.

The main Wall Street indices all posted gains last week, their seventh-consecutive positive week, with the blue chip recording a new intraday all-time high.

Market sidesteps Fed policymakers’ attempts to rein in rate-cut expectations

Chicago Fed President said earlier Monday he was “confused” with how the market reacted in the wake of last week’s Fed meeting, adding that Fed members “don’t debate specific policies speculatively about the future.”

Fed President Loretta Mester, meanwhile, also attempted to push back, saying that the Fed’s next policy phase isn’t “when to reduce rates … It’s about how long do we need monetary policy to remain restrictive in order to be assured that inflation is on that sustainable and timely path back to 2%.”

The comments echoed those of New York Fed President John Williams late last week, who stated that policymakers were not “really talking about” interest rate cuts “right now.”

Rate-cut expectations were given a major boost last week after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said last week that the discussion of rate cuts had “come into view.”

Just a month after setting a 2024 target for the S&P 500, {{0|Goldman Sachs upgraded its year-end forecast on the S&P 500 to 5,100, citing the Federal Reserve’s dovish pivot last week, lower consumer prices, and expectations for a declien in real yields.

U.S. Steel gains Japanese admire; Adobe abandons Figma deal

United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:) stock soared 27% after Nippon Steel (TYO:) said it would buy its U.S. rival in a deal worth $14.9 billion including debt, months after the steelmaker put itself up for sale.

The Japanese company will pay $55 per share in an all-cash transaction, a 40% premium to U.S. Steel’s Friday closing stock price.

Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:) stock rose 2.5% after the Photoshop and Illustrator maker ended its $20 billion cash-and-stock deal for cloud-based designer platform Figma, citing problems getting approvals from antitrust regulators in the European Union and the UK.

Adobe will now pay a termination fee of $1 billion to Figma.

VF Corporation (NYSE:) plunges after cyber incident, Southwest settles December 2022 travel fiscaol 

VF Corporation warned that a cyber incident from Dec. 13 would likely make a material dent on performance, sending shares of the apparel company more than 6% lower.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:) stock fell 1.8% after the carrier agreed to a record-setting $140 million civil penalty over the December 2022 holiday meltdown that led to 16,900 flight cancellations and stranded 2 million passengers.

Apple (NASDAQ:) to reportedly pause Apple Watch sales   

Apple, which closed a record high on Friday, turned lower Monday after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company is set to pause sales of its Apple Watch to ensure it doesn’t violate a U.S. import ban on the use of blood-oxygen sensors. 

Energy rises as oil advances amid Russia details export cuts

Energy stocks rose more than 1%, underpinned by jump in after Russia said it would deepen oil exports curb by around 50,000 barrels per day, in December

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:), Diamondback Energy Inc (NASDAQ:), Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:) were among the biggest gainers.

Stoking further crude supply concerns, a number of shipping firms said over the weekend that they would avoid the Suez Canal given the increase in assaults on commercial vessels in the Red Seas by Houthi militants in Yemen.

(Peter Nurse contributed to this report.)