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Reason for cheer as Wall Street welcomes best Jan in 30 years

Published Sun, Feb 3, 2019 · 09:50 PM

    DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.

    US STOCKS surged last week, and major indices saw their biggest January gains in 30 years after a reversal from the Federal Reserve and "better-than-feared" earnings from Apple, General Electric and others.

    The momentum is now with the bulls and, if earnings reports from Google parent Alphabet and consumer giants such as Walt Disney fit the trend of modest outperformance, major indices could continue their winning streak this week.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose for the sixth straight week and has now recovered more than half the losses from the Dec 26 nadir. The biggest change is in the Fed's stated policy plans. Stocks had plunged in mid-December when Fed Chairman Jerome Powell vowed to stay the course but his tone had changed completely by Wednesday, as he reassured markets that the central bank was determined to be "patient" on its rate hike plans.

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