Nasdaq-100 Price Hits All-time High after 4 Straight Months of Gains

The Nasdaq-100 index is holding above 18,000 today following yesterday's bullish momentum, fueled by inflation news.

The PCE consumer spending index amounted to 0.4% on a monthly basis, which was in line with analysts' expectations. A year ago, we recall, it was 0.6%. Thus, statistics indicate a weakening of inflation which means that the likelihood of the Fed cutting interest rates increases — the anticipation of this event increases optimism in the stock market.

Another driver is the strong price action of NVDA stock. The company's capitalization is close to USD 2 trillion, as Nvidia is perhaps the main beneficiary of the AI boom — NVDA's price rose approximately 28% in February.

The Nasdaq-100 chart shows that the index price has been in an upward trend since the beginning of 2024 (shown by the blue channel):
→ with the price is in its upper half;
→ from the point of view of technical analysis of the Nasdsaq-100, the level of 18k points, which acted as resistance in February, may support the market in March — however, this is if the bulls manage to gain a foothold above 18,000.

In the meantime, the current exceeding of maximum 2 looks insignificant. And this creates the threat of a false bullish breakout — as an example, this turned out to be the maximum 2, when the price exceeded the maximum 1. Let's note another bearish factor, the overbought state on the RSI indicator.

Comments from FOMC committee members are expected this evening, which could impact current sentiment.