Tesla boosts Nasdaq with strong performance<\/p>\n
Last week finished with the US Tech 100 (Nasdaq 100)<\/a>\u00a0hitting a fresh record high, while both the\u00a0US 500 (S&P 500)<\/a> and the Dow Jones<\/a>\u00a0took a breather ahead of this week\u2019s eagerly anticipated Federal Reserve (Fed)<\/a> meeting.<\/p>\n The rally<\/a> in the Nasdaq on Friday night was supported by Tesla<\/a>, which surged 7.4% to $395.94 after Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm publicly supported Elon Musk, stating that his political activities on X (formerly Twitter) have no impact on sales or operations and that he is irreplaceable for navigating artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and autonomy. This contributed to a weekly gain of about 12.85% as it drove away (pun intended) from the 200-day moving average<\/a> at $330.<\/p>\n Bucking the trend<\/a>, Oracle<\/a> fell by 5.09% on Friday to $292.18, marking a second consecutive day of declines following Wednesday\u2019s dramatic rally, which saw the billion-dollar company surge an eye-popping 36%.<\/p>\n US: FOMC interest rate decision<\/p>\n Date:\u00a0Thursday, 18 September at 4.00am AEST<\/p>\n At the last Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)<\/a> meeting in July, the Fed kept interest rates<\/a> on hold at 4.25% \u2013 4.50% with two dissents in favour of a rate cut (Bowman and Waller).<\/p>\n Fed Chair Jerome Powell sounded hawkish<\/a>, noting that a wait-and-see approach was appropriate as the labour market remained solid, and that inflation<\/a> may be more persistent than expected, with uncertainties around tariffs. This saw market pricing of a 25 basis points (bp)<\/a> rate cut in September fall to about 44% from 64% prior.<\/p>\n