Investing.com -- U.S. stock markets hit a new record high on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell gave his clearest hint yet that the central bank will cut interest rates to support an economy stumbling under the weight of the U.S.'s various trade conflicts.
The S&P 500 rose through 3,000 for the first time in history, reaching 3003.68 before retracing slightly. By 11 AM ET (1500 GMT), it was up 0.4% on the day at 2990.12.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average also trimmed earlier gains to be up 0.3% at 26,860 points, while the Nasdaq 100 held a gain of 0.7%, after surging over 1.2% initially when the Fed published Powell's prepared remarks ahead of his appearance in front of the House Financial Services Committee.
Powell said that the "uncertainties" around trade policy and sub-target inflation are continuing to weigh on the outlook for the U.S. economy, and he repeated earlier assurances that the Fed would act "appropriately" to sustain the current economic expansion, the longest on record.
Powell indicated that the U.S.'s current trade policy had had a negative effect on many of the economies with which the U.S. does business, creating a circular threat to domestic activity.
“Economic momentum appears to have slowed in some major foreign economies, and that weakness could affect the U.S. economy," he said. "Moreover, a number of government policy issues have yet to be resolved, including trade developments, the federal debt ceiling, and Brexit.”
The remarks cemented expectations for a 25 basis-point cut in the Fed funds rate at the Fed's policy meeting on July 30-31. That would be the first Fed rate cut for a decade.
Semiconductor companies were among the most conspicuous gainers, with Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) gained 2.0% while Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) rose 1.6%, while Micron (NASDAQ:MU) rose 4.6% and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) rose 1.0%
Financials, by contrast, underperformed: JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) fell 0.5%, while Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) all fell 1.0%.
Elsewhere, T-Mobile US (NASDAQ:TMUS) also rose 4.4% on news that it will be replace Red Hat in the S&P 500 due to the latter's acquisition by IBM (NYSE:IBM).
Levi Strauss & Co (NYSE:LEVI) was a stand-out loser, dropping over 12% after reporting weaker-than-expected sales and earnings for the second quarter after the close on Tuesday.