US markets end higher as Fed pledges lasting support for economy

30 Apr 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve held its interest rate target between 0 and 0.25 percent. The Fed said it would continue with its aggressive policy stance until it is comfortable that the economy is back on its feet. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said that the ongoing public health crisis will weigh heavily on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term, and pose considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term. The Committee expects to maintain this target range until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said medium term risks means over next year or so, primarily length of time to control virus. The risks also involve potential damage to economy, workers, if levels of unemployment remain high for an extended time.

The rally on markets also comes as upbeat news about Gilead Sciences' potential coronavirus treatment remdesivir has overshadowed a report from the Commerce Department showing a steep drop in US gross domestic product in the first quarter. The Commerce Department said US real gross domestic product decreased at an annual rate of 4.8 percent in the first quarter following the 2.1 percent jump in the fourth quarter of 2019. A report released by National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed a bigger than expected nosedive in US pending home sales in the month of March. NAR said its pending home sales index plunged by 20.8 percent to 88.2 in March after jumping by 2.3 percent to 111.4 in February. Street had expected the index to tumbled by 10.0. A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 532.31 points or 2.21 percent to 24,633.86, Nasdaq surged 306.98 points 3.57 percent to 8,914.71 and S&P 500 was up by 76.12 points or 2.66 percent to 2,939.51.

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