Stock market news live updates: Tech stocks lead indexes higher following Fed decision: S&P 500 gains 1.6% – Yahoo Finance
Stocks ended sharply higher Wednesday afternoon as investors mulled the Federal Reserve’s final monetary policy decision of 2021, which came against a backdrop of persistent inflationary pressures.
The S&P 500 and Dow turned positive after spending much of the trading day earlier in t…….
Stocks ended sharply higher Wednesday afternoon as investors mulled the Federal Reserve’s final monetary policy decision of 2021, which came against a backdrop of persistent inflationary pressures.
The S&P 500 and Dow turned positive after spending much of the trading day earlier in the red. The Nasdaq outperformed to add more than 2%. Bond yields rose, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield added more than 3 basis points to rise rise above 1.47% immediately following the Fed’s 2 p.m. monetary policy decision.
All eyes on Wednesday were on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy statement. In this, the Fed announced it was speeding the withdrawal of its crisis-era stimulus programs. The Fed ramped up the rate of tapering of its asset purchasing program to $30 billion per month.
Previously, the Fed’s asset purchasing program took place at a rate of $120 billion per month in combined Treasuries and agency mortgage-backed securities from the start of the pandemic through November. Last month, the Fed began dialing back these purchases by $15 billion, and announced another $15 billion reduction for December.
The Federal Reserve’s updated Summary of Economic Projections, or so-called “dot plot,” also showed the likelihood of several interest rate hikes next year. The updated projections showed the median member of the Federal Open Market Committee expected three rate hikes in 2022, followed by as many as four hikes in 2023 and as many as two in 2024. This charted out a quicker cadence of rate hikes than projected in the Fed’s September dot plot.
The firming economic recovery and soaring inflation has given the central bank room for a more hawkish tilt to policy. Last week’s Consumer Price Index showed the fastest surge in U.S. consumer prices since 1982 on a year-over-year basis in November. And on Tuesday, the U.S. Producer Price Index jumped by the most on record at a 9.6% year-over-year increase for last month.
The Federal Reserve’s latest statement suggested officials were taking note of the rising prices.
“Supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic and the reopening of the economy have continued to contribute to elevated levels of inflation,” according to the statement.
A number of strategists noted the trading activity in recent sessions and weeks reflected the market already pricing in a more hawkish Fed. Software and other growth names were some of the biggest laggards in the major indexes during Tuesday’s session, and the Nasdaq dropped more than 1% during the trading day.
“When you have an anticipation of higher interest rates, growth stocks or long-duration …….
Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-live-updates-december-14-2021-233411115.html
