news/AAPL/2023.01.31/Stocks gain, yields dip after U.S. data; Fed eyed.txt

*U.S. Federal Reserve policy decision awaited*ECB, BoE policy announcements due Thursday*MSCI index set for biggest January pct gain since 2019*U.S. labor costs growth slows in Q4NEW YORK, Jan 31 (Reuters) -A gauge of global stocks advanced on Tuesday as it closed
out a strong month while U.S. Treasury yields fell as investors
assessed economic data and earnings reports ahead of a run of
central bank policy announcements.On Wall Street, U.S. stocks rallied and closed higher,
reversing declines in equity futures after data showed labor
cost growth in the fourth quarter was the smallest in a year, at
1.0%, even in a tight labor market. Other data showed consumer
confidence eased in January, as inflation expectations for the
next 12 months climbed to 6.8% from 6.6% last month.The Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest
rates by 25 basis points (bps) at the conclusion of its two-day
policy meeting on Wednesday. Investors will closely monitor
comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell following the announcement
for clues on the path of monetary policy."Especially ahead of a Fed press conference, something like
this equity market rally is kind of explicitly against what they
want, and they have been pretty clear the market rallying on
what they expect the Fed to do is counter-productive," said Ross
Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird in Louisville,
Kentucky."We do feel like we’ve gotten a bit ahead of ourselves here
even if we are closer to the end of the Fed hiking cycle than
the beginning."The Dow Jones Industrial Averagerose 368.95 points, or 1.09%,to34,086.04, the S&P 500gained 58.83 points, or 1.46%,to4,076.6, and the Nasdaq Compositeadded 190.74 points, or 1.67%,to11,584.55.The S&P 500 closed up 6.2% for the month, its first
January gain since 2019, while the Nasdaq surged 10.7% for its
biggest percentage gain for the month of January since 2001.Interest rate announcements from the Bank of England and the
European Central Bank are scheduled for Thursday, with both seen
as likely to hike rates by 50 basis points.Markets will also grapple with a host of U.S. economic data
this week, culminating in Friday's payrolls report for January.
Investors see signs of weakening in the labor market as a key
factor in bringing down high inflation. Other data this week
include gauges of the manufacturing and services sectors.In addition, more than 100 S&P 500 companies, including
market heavyweights Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc
and Google parent Alphabet, are scheduled to report
results this week.Despite the strong equity rally, Caterpillar and
McDonald's both lost ground on Tuesday following their
quarterly results. However, Exxon Mobil rose after posting a $56
billion net profit for 2022.European shares retreated ahead of the central bank meetings
to end the month on a down note, but still notched their biggest
January percentage gain since 2015. Economic data for the euro
zone showed slight growth for the fourth quarter, but further
weakness is expected this year.The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.26%, and
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained
0.72%. MSCI's index was on pace for its biggest January
percentage gain since 2019.Benchmark U.S. 10-year notes were down 3.5 basis
points to 3.516% in the wake of the data, after hitting a
two-week high of 3.574% on Monday.In currencies, the U.S. dollar index, poised for a
fourth month of declines, fell 0.176%, with the euro up
0.22% to $1.0868.Oil prices recovered from earlier lows, as U.S. crude
settled up 1.2% at $78.87 per barrel and Brent settled
at $84.49, down 0.48% on the day.(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; additional reporting by Lisa
Pauline Mattackal; editing by Diane Craft, Leslie Adler and
Deepa Babington)