Wall Street adds 1pc as Fed calms rates nerves

US stocks gained more than 1 percent on Thursday as investors appeared relieved about the Federal Reserve’s stance on tapering stimulus and raising interest rates.

Upbeat outlooks from Accenture and Salesforce helped to bolster the market, while the US Food and Drug Administration late on Wednesday authorised a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for those 65 and older.

Also helping sentiment, concern about a ripple effect from China Evergrande continued to ease.

The Fed said on Wednesday it could begin reducing its monthly bond purchases by as soon as November, and that interest rates could rise quicker than expected by next year. The November deadline was largely priced in by markets.

In a press conference after the statement, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the bar for lifting rates from zero is much higher than for tapering.

“This is a follow-on rally from a very good Fed meeting,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York.

“To me that showed there were no surprises and things were as expected,” he said. “Any Fed rate hike is still quite a ways off and so much can change between now and then.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.48 percent, to 34,765, the S&P 500 gained 1.21 percent, to 4,449 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.04 percent, to 15,052.

Shares of IT services provider Salesforce finished up 7 percent and the company was a big boost to the S&P and the Dow during the session after it raised its annual earnings forecast.

Accenture gained 2.5 percent after the IT consulting firm boosted its first-quarter outlook.

Concerns eased further over a potential default by Chinese property developer Evergrande even as some holders of the firm’s dollar bonds said they had given up hope of getting a coupon payment by a key Thursday deadline. (Reuters)