Morgans AM: Friday, 20 September 2024

US equity markets rallied, lifting both the Dow and S&P 500 to fresh record highs as investors applauded a -50-basis point interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve a day earlier - the largest in 16-years - that they hope will deliver a so-called soft landing - Dow rose +522-points or +1.26% to 42,025.19. It is the first time that the 30-stock index has closed above >42,000 and marks 45-days since the Dow’s last 1,000 point milestone. Caterpillar Inc (up +5.12%) and Salesforce Inc (+5.37%) both gained over >5% to be the leading Dow components overnight.