Wall Street ends up after Fed announcements – archyworldys

by Lewis Krauskopf, Devik Jain and Shashank Nayar

(Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange finished higher on Wednesday, with its three major indexes setting new records, after the US Federal Reserve (Fed) said it would cut its purchases as early as this month bond markets, an early announcement by investors.

The Dow Jones index gained 0.29%, or 104.95 points, to 36,157.58 points.

The larger S & P-500 gained 29.92 points, or 0.65%, to 4,660.57 points.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced by 161.98 points (1.04%) to 15,811.58 points.

The Nasdaq and S & P-500 hit peaks for the fifth consecutive session. The Dow Jones, for its part, set a record for the fourth day in a row, after having exceeded the threshold of 36,000 points the day before for the first time.

The S & P-500 swung green and then climbed following the Fed’s release following its two-day monetary policy meeting.

As investors anticipated, the central bank announced the start of its ‘tapering’ as part of the tightening of support measures adopted to help the US economy cope with the coronavirus crisis.

“The Fed didn’t capsize the boat on that one,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at LPL Financial. “She did what most people expected.”

Of the top eleven sectors in the S & P-500, materials was one of the top performers.

In its press release, the Fed also maintained its view that high inflation was largely transient, so it should not require rapid interest rate hikes.

“There is nothing in my opinion unique about the press release other than the fact that (the Fed) is trying to buy time by declaring that inflation and disruptions in supply chains are both temporary.” , said Joseph LaVorgna, Americas chief economic officer of Natixis, in New York.

Fed chairman Jerome Powell told a press conference that the US job market could recover enough to reach full employment in mid-2022, a key figure the bank sees central to consider rising interest rates.

The earnings season, which is better than expected for the time being, is also helping to fuel investor confidence.

On the stocks side, CVS Health rose 5.7% after raising its adjusted profit forecast for the year.

Activision Blizzard fell 14.1% on news of the postponement of the launch of two highly anticipated video games, “Overwatch 2” and “Diablo IV”.

(Report Lewis Krauskopf, Deviik Jain and Shashank Nayar; French version Jean Terzian)