Dow, S&P shrug off Powell remarks to hit fresh highs

The news: The S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow Jones index rebounded from a brief setback after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s remarks to close at fresh highs.

The numbers: Among the main indices: Dow Jones edged up 0.04% to a fresh high of 42,330.15, the S&P 500 gained 0.42% to 5,762.48, while Nasdaq rose 0.38%. For the quarter, the S&P 500 rose 5.5%, the Nasdaq gained 2.6% and the Dow climbed 8.2%.

The context: All three Wall Street indices rose despite Powell saying the US central bank is in no hurry to implement big interest rate cuts, with traders attributing the gains to quarter-end trading momentum. Investors are now focused on US jobless claims and monthly payrolls data due later this week.

Among individual stocks, shares of 3M surged more than 33% for the quarter, while IBM followed with a jump of more than 27%. On the Nasdaq, PayPal was up 34% for the quarter, while EV giant Tesla advanced 31%. The Russell 2000 Small caps index was up nearly 9% for the three months to September.