Daily Times

Wall Street stocks rallied Wednesday after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 50 basis points, but signaled an even larger hike was not under consideration. Near 1930 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.4pc at 33,917.72 after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the US central bank was not actively weighing a 75-basis point increase. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.5pc to 4,277.78, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 2.6pc to 12,886.82. Wednesday interest rate hike — the biggest since 2000 — was coupled with a move to begin reducing the central bank’s bond holdings from June 1, marking the Fed’s most aggressive steps so far to counter inflation. But Powell said 50-basis point increases “should be on the table at the next couple of meetings,” rejecting a possible three-quarter point rise. Talk of the larger rate hike has rattled investors in recent weeks. Powell’s remark “has catalyzed a huge sigh of relief in the market considering the Fed funds futures market was assigning a 95pc probability for 75-bps hike next month,” said Briefing.com.