With the start of a new quarter, the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index is giving hope of a rate cut in the near future.
The core PCE price index, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.3% in February, weaker than expected and roughly in line with the Fed's forecast. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is in no hurry to cut rates, but Friday's index results have raised investor expectations for a rate cut by the end of the second quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% to $39,561 Monday morning. The S&P 500 fell 0.3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.14%.
Model Y price drives Tesla down
Tesla stock fell early Monday. The company raised the price of all Model Y vehicles in the U.S. by $1,000. At the time of writing, Tesla stock was down 2.6% to $171. EV manufacturers are scheduled to announce shipment numbers tomorrow, March 29th. The company posted on X that it had produced its 6 millionth car.
AI and tech stocks rise across the board
As usual, tech and AI stocks are driving the market higher. AI stocks such as Micron Technology and Super Micro Computer were up 6.4% and 3.7%, respectively, on Monday morning. Similarly, computer drive maker Western Digital rose 5%. Among tech stocks, Alphabet Class A and Alphabet Class C were the best performers, rising 2.4% and 2.3%, respectively.
Cryptocurrency market is in the red
The cryptocurrency market, which had been bullish for the past few weeks, fell on Monday morning. The main cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, fell 2.4% to trade at $68,000. Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency, is down 3.4% and hovering around $3,400. Dogecoin hit its highest price in the past weekdown 4.6% to $0.20.
