US equity markets rallied strongly in the final hour of the session following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Hutchins Centre on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at The Brookings Institution in which he confirmed that the central bank will slow the pace of its aggressive rate-hiking campaign - Dow rallied +737 points or +2.18%. The broader S&P500 climbed +3.09%, snapping a three session losing streak. Information Technology (up +5.03%) and Communication Services (+4.91%) both rallied ~5% to lead all eleven primary sectors higher. Energy (+0.54%) was the relative laggard. The Nasdaq jumped +4.41%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 rose +2.72%. The U.S.-listed shares of China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd capped a strong month, rallying +9.64% and posting its second-best monthly performance (+37.72%) since it went public in September 2019 and the best since the record monthly rally of +42.2% in October 2015.
