US stocks maintain follow-up rally as Fed keeps near-zero rates
By Yashasvini on Sep 24, 2021 | 03:34 AM IST
KEY POINTS
l Stocks maintain rally after Fed decision to keep interest rates near zero
l Weekly joblesss claims rose
U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday, after the Federal Reserve announced its stance regarding the start of, and perhaps raise interest rates next year, assuming a continued economic recovery from the pandemic.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 506.50 points or 1.48% today to 34764.82, its largest two-day point and percentage gain since Monday, March 8, 2021, according to Dow Jones data. The S&P 500 gained up 53.34 points or 1.21% today to 4448.98. The Nasdaq Composite ended the day up 155.40 points or 1.04% today to 15052.24.
The US Federal Reserve kept the benchmark interest rates near zero and assured the market that the current pace of asset purchases would be maintained, but hinted that the interest rates could be hiked sooner than expected.
Analysts attributed the hike in stock prices to a follow-up rally based on the Fed’s announcement on Wednesday.
In U.S. economic data published on Thursday, the Labor Department said that the initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 16,000 to 351,000 in the week ended September 18.
Global investors cheered the injection of $110 billion into the Chinese economy by the People’s Bank of China. Ever since the Evergrande crisis, fears surrounding a possible ripple effect due to the collapse have floated around in the market, reflected by the market’s performance on Monday.
Notable market performers on Wall Street were Salesforce.com Inc and BlackBerry that reported a surge in shares after reporting their second-quarter results. Shares of Salesforce rose more than 7.2% after the customer relationship management software company boosted its fiscal 2022 revenue outlook and provided 2023 guidance that was above expectations.
Shares of BlackBerry were up 10.8% after the cybersecurity firm reported upbeat quarterly earnings.
The 10-year Treasury yield jumped 11.6 basis points to 1.427%.