Today in Stocks: U.S. Stock Indices Climb as Bauer Confirms Rate Cut Ahead of Employment Report Announcement

• U.S. stocks climbed on Thursday after Fed chief Simmie Bauer calmed concerns about the prospect of a delayed rate hike.

• Investors are looking forward to Friday's release of the March jobs report, which will provide further clarity on the expected pace of rate hikes.

• The number of people applying for unemployment benefits last week rose to the highest since January, data showed.

U.S. stocks climbed on Thursday after Fed chief Jerome Powell soothed market nervousness about the prospect of a delayed rate hike.

Powell reiterated in an obituary speech at Stanford University on Wednesday that as much as inflation strengthens at the beginning of 2024, the "total aggregate situation" remains unchanged, and emphasized that the appropriate policy approach includes lowering the "restrictive" policy interest rate during the course of this year.

According to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) FedWatch Tool (FedWatch Tool), the market now judges the possibility of at least one rate cut before June as 60%, lower than a month ago about three-quarters of the possibility.

Meanwhile, new data showed that initial jobless claims rose last week to the highest level since January. Initial claims rose by 9,000 to 221,000, above the consensus economist estimate of 214,000.

Investors will also pay close attention to Friday's jobs report, which will provide new data on nonemployment and unemployment.

Here's what the U.S. stock indexes are doing shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Thursday:

• Standard & Poor's 500indices::5248.47 points, up 0.7%.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average39,291.15, up 0.41 TP3T (164 points)

• Nasdaq ResonanceindicesNASDAQ Composite Resonance Index: 16,412.94 points, up 0.8 percent

What else happened today?

• Robert Kiyosaki, David Einhorn and Gary Shilling are all worried about inflation - and so is the Fed!

• A former ten-year fund manager who beat 94%'s competitors over the past five years shares how to spot hidden "fallen angels" in the market, and his five favorite stocks right now

Commodities, bonds and cryptocurrencies:

• West Texas Kerosene Intermediate crude oil climbed 0.89%.%It fell 0.11% to $85.91 a barrel. International benchmark Brent crude oil fell 0.11% to $89.25 a barrel.

• Gold fell 0.58% to $2,286.65 an ounce.

• The 10-year Treasury yield fell 1.4 basis points to 4.341%.

• Bitcoin rises 1.37% to $66,991.

Read the original article on Business Insider