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Wall Street Rises Back Toward Records  03/18 09:07

   Stocks are rising Monday ahead of a busy week for central banks around the 
world that could dictate where interest rates go.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks are rising Monday ahead of a busy week for central 
banks around the world that could dictate where interest rates go.

   The S&P 500 was 0.9% higher in early trading, coming off its first 
back-to-back weekly loss since October. It's pulling close to its all-time high 
set early last week. Nvidia and other big technology stocks are leading the 
way, as has usually been the case.

   The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 80 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:40 a.m. 
Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.6% higher.

   The highlight for Wall Street this week will likely be the Federal Reserve's 
meeting on interest rates, which ends on Wednesday. The widespread expectation 
is for the central bank to hold its main interest rate steady at its highest 
level since 2001.

   But Fed officials will also give updated forecasts for where they see 
interest rates heading over the course of this year and in the long run. They 
earlier had penciled in three cuts to rates this year, which would relieve 
pressure on the economy and financial system.

   Recent reports on inflation have consistently been coming in worse than 
expected, though. That could force the Fed to say fewer rate cuts will come 
this year.

   Such a move would be a sore disappointment for Wall Street, where stock 
prices have already run up partly on expectations for lower rates. Treasury 
yields in the bond market have also eased since last autumn on such 
expectations, though they've pared those losses on worries about stubbornly 
high inflation.

   Across the Pacific, the Bank of Japan will also announce its latest decision 
on interest rates on Tuesday. It hasn't touched its benchmark interest rate for 
17 years, as it's kept rates below zero in hopes of goosing the economy and 
inflation.

   Speculation is rising that wages for Japanese workers are rising enough for 
the Bank of Japan to finally move rates higher.

   Across the Atlantic, the Bank of England will announce its latest decision 
on rates later in the week.

   On Wall Street, Nvidia rose 4.8% as it kicked off its annual conference for 
developers. Analysts say the widespread expectation is for Nvidia to unveil its 
next generation artificial-intelligence architecture, along with the growing 
use cases for AI.

   Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will give a keynote address after trading closes for 
the day on Wall Street, while holding a Q&A with financial analysts Tuesday 
morning.

   A frenzy around AI technology on Wall Street has sent the stocks of Nvidia 
and other players zooming so high that critics call it a bubble. Nvidia has 
grown into the U.S. stock market's third-largest stock. Nvidia once again was 
the strongest force pushing the S&P 500 higher Monday.

   On the losing end of Wall Street was Hertz Global Holdings, which skidded 7% 
to bring its loss for the year so far to 43%. Its chair and CEO, Stephen 
Scherr, will resign at the end of March. The company named Wayne "Gil" West as 
its CEO. He's a former executive at Cruise, the self-driving car company, and 
at Delta Air Lines.

   In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was holding steady at 
4.31%, where it was late Friday.

   In stock markets abroad, Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 2.7%. Shares of both 
Nissan Motor and Honda Motor Co.'s shares climbed after the two automakers 
agreed on a partnership in electric vehicles.

   Outside of a 1% jump for stocks in Shanghai, moves were much more modest 
elsewhere across Asia and Europe.

 
 
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