US markets end sharply higher after Fed's interest rate hike

05 May 2022 Evaluate

The US markets ended sharply higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve raised rates by a widely anticipated half percentage point and Chairman Jerome Powell ruled out getting even more aggressive in the central bank’s inflation-fighting campaign. The central bank announced that it was hiking its benchmark interest rate 50-basis-points, or 0.5 percentage point, and would start reducing its balance sheet in June. That is the biggest rate increase since 2000 for the Fed, but the move was widely expected by investors. Stocks moved sharply higher when Powell said the central bank was not considering an even more aggressive hike in future meetings. Powell said a 75 basis point increase is not something that committee is actively considering. He added ‘I think expectations are that we will start to see inflation, you know, flattening out.’

On the economic data front, a report from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showed an unexpected slowdown in the pace of growth in US service sector activity. The ISM said its Services PMI fell to 57.1 in April from 58.3 in March, although a reading above 50 still indicates growth in the sector. The decrease surprised participants, who had expected the index to inch up to 58.5. Anthony Nieves, Chair of the ISM Services Business Survey Committee, said the pullback by the index was mostly due to the restricted labor pool and the slowing of new orders growth. A separate report released by payroll processor ADP showed US private sector job growth slowed by more than expected in the month of April. ADP said private sector employment increased by 247,000 jobs in April after jumping by an upwardly revised 479,000 jobs in March. Street had expected private sector employment to surge by 395,000 jobs compared to the addition of 455,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 932.27 points or 2.81 percent to 34,061.06, Nasdaq rose 401.1 points or 3.19 percent to 12,964.86 and S&P 500 was up by 124.69 points or 2.99 percent to 4,300.17. 

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