Waller Comments, FedWatch Odds Shift As Stocks Rally And Microsoft, Salesforce Raise Targets

According to CNBC, stocks rallied Thursday, with the S&P 500 on pace for its best session since early August, after Treasury yields fell Wednesday when Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said he favored keeping interest rates steady if upcoming inflation data brought no surprises. The CME Group's FedWatch tool showed the odds of a rate hike at the Fed's Sept. 15-16 meeting falling to 52% from 63% on Wednesday. Enterprise software stocks were among the biggest gainers, with Microsoft up about 25% since its July 29 earnings report and Salesforce up 29% since its Aug. 26 earnings report. The Investing Club raised its Microsoft price target to $550 from $500 and its Salesforce target to $290 from $250. Docusign, Zscaler and Lululemon are set to report earnings after Thursday's close, while economists polled by FactSet expect August nonfarm payrolls to rise by 65,000 and the unemployment rate to increase to 4.2% from July.