Daily Times

Wall Street stocks rose early Wednesday after the Bank of England’s surprise intervention in the British bond market pushed down bond yields in Britain and the United States. Following a historic slump in the pound, the BoE announced it was temporarily buying up long-dated UK government bonds “to restore orderly market conditions.” The pound was lower after the announcement, but the UK government’s 30-year bond yield retreated to 4.44 percent, having hit a 1998 peak at 5.14 percent. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note — a closely-watched proxy of US interest rates — also pulled back as analysts said the BoE maneuver had “soothed” investors in the short run. About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4 percent at 29,246.42. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to 3,660.12, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.1 percent to 10,838.47. Among individual companies, Biogen surged 40 percent after announcing positive clinical results for treatment of mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease. Apple fell 4.3 percent following a Bloomberg report that it is retreating on a plan to boost production of its new iPhone due to lackluster demand.