The never-ending rise of the previous 3 quarters seems to continue as we enter the second half of 2024 (for a 4th consecutive quarter) with a new shower of closing records and absolute records equaled.

The Nasdaq had opened the ball the previous day with a record closing at 17,880, and here it is again with redoubled enthusiasm: +0.84% at 18,030Pts, taking its annual gain to +20%.
The Nasdaq-100 (+1%) also broke a record at 20,012Pts (1st closing above 20.000), in the wake of the usual stars (GAFA + tesla, + semiconductors, with Tesla +10.2% (quarterly sales ahead of expectations), On Semiconductors +5.4%, AMD +4.2%, ARM +2.9%, NXP +2.4%, Apple +1.6%, Alphabet +1.2% (annual score flirting with +19%).

The S&P-500 (+0.62%) closes above 5,500pts for the 1st time in its history, at 5,509 (vs. 5,487 on June 18, i.e. +15.5% for the year).

The Dow Jones continues to struggle to retrace the 40,000 mark, but comes a little closer with +0.4% at 39,331pts.
The "macro" agenda was virtually empty, apart from the JOLTS report (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey), which came out a little stronger than expected.

Wall Street seemed to appreciate the comments made by Fed boss Jerome Powell, who is taking part with Christine Lagarde in the ECB's annual forum in Sintra, Portugal (the European counterpart to the Jackson Hole meeting held every year at the end of August in the USA).

Powell reaffirmed that, while inflation had made "progress", its decline needed to be confirmed in order to "give more confidence that price increases are slowing before we start easing monetary policy".

The head of the FED confirms that he is torn between the fear of cutting rates too quickly and the fear of waiting too long.

Yields on the 10-year T-Bond eased this evening by -2.3pts to 4.438%, after having oscillated limply on Tuesday between 4.4600 and 4.4100%.

Despite the recent rise in yields from 4.25% on June 25 to 4.50% on Monday morning, investors believe there is a nearly 70% chance of a Fed rate cut in September

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