US markets end higher after Fed announces first rate hike since 2018

17 Mar 2022 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to raise interest rates for the first time since December of 2018 in an effort to combat inflation at 40-year highs.  The Fed said it has decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 0.25 to 0.5 percent. The central bank also predicted ongoing rate hikes will be appropriate, with the Fed's latest projections pointing to an interest rate of 1.9 percent by the end of the year.Additionally, the Fed said it expects to begin reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities at a coming meeting.

The Fed said with appropriate firming in the stance of monetary policy, the Committee expects inflation to return to its 2 percent objective and the labor market to remain strong. The decision to raise rates by 25 basis points was nearly unanimous, although St. Louis Fed President James Bullard preferred a 50 basis point increase. Meanwhile, optimism about a potential diplomatic solution to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict also generated additional buying interest. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the positions in the negotiations were beginning to sound more realistic, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said there was some hope of reaching a compromise.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 518.76 points or 1.55 percent to 34,063.1, Nasdaq surged 487.93 points or 3.77 percent to 13,436.55 and S&P 500 was up by 95.41 points or 2.24 percent to 4,357.86.

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