Investing.com – Wall Street rebounded on Tuesday after a Federal Reserve official suggested a rate cut could be possible in response to slow economic growth and trade tensions.
The S&P 500 rose 23 points or 0.9% by 9:42 AM ET (13:44 GMT), while the Dow gained 229 points or 0.9% and tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was up 68 points or 0.9%.
St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Monday that the Fed “needs to tread carefully in order to help sustain the economic expansion” due to global trade risks and weak inflation. He added that an interest rate cut could be warranted.
Investors are also looking to see if Bullard’s dovish stance will be confirmed by Chairman Jerome Powell, who is due to speak this morning at a conference organized by the Chicago Fed.
"We are looking for circuit breakers to put an end to a slide in sentiment in the United States. A significant dovish move in central banks or a resolution in trade could be the big circuit breakers," said Florian Hense, European economist at Berenberg.
Technology stocks were higher, with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) up 0.9%, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) gaining 1.5% and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) inching up 0.03%. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) rose 2.3%, while Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 1.2% and Uber (NYSE:UBER) jumped 2.5% after a flurry of new coverage from analysts, with most recommending the stock at overperform or buy.
In commodities, gold futures were flat at $1,327.55 a troy ounce, while crude oil lost 0.3% to $53.08. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.1% to 97.188.
-Reuters contributed to this report.