US markets end sharply higher after Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision

28 Jul 2022 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher with Nasdaq settling over four percent on Wednesday following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision.  The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 basis points, as expected. The hike follows the 75 basis point increase in rates last month, and marks the fourth straight central bank meeting that has resulted in a rate hike. Powell said ‘as the stance of monetary policy tightens further, it likely will become appropriate to slow the pace of increases while we assess how our cumulative policy adjustments are affecting the economy and inflation.’ The Fed’s next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for September 20-21, with CME Group’s FedWatch tool currently indicating a 59.2 percent chance of a 50 basis point rate hike and a 36.7 percent chance of another 75 basis points rate hike.

On the economic data front, reflecting a sharp increase in orders for transportation equipment, the Commerce Department released a report showing an unexpected surge in new orders for US manufactured durable goods in the month of June. The Commerce Department said durable goods orders shot up by 1.9 percent in June after climbing by 0.8 percent in May. The continued increase surprised participants, who had expected durable goods orders to dip by 0.4 percent. However, pending home sales in the US pulled back sharply in the month of June, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). NAR said its pending home sales index plunged by 8.6 percent to 91.0 in June after rising by 0.4 percent to a revised 99.6 in May. Street had expected pending home sales to slump by 1.5 percent compared to the 0.7 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 436.05 points or 1.37 percent to 32,197.59, Nasdaq surged 469.85 points or 4.06 percent to 12,032.42 and S&P 500 was up by 102.56 points or 2.62 percent to 4,023.61.

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