by Sinéad Carew and Amruta Khandekar

(Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Wednesday, at the end of a turbulent session, while the American Federal Reserve (Fed) announced as expected to keep its interest rates unchanged and comments from its president reassured investors, even if he did not rule out the possibility of additional increases.

The Dow Jones index gained 0.67%, or 221.71 points, to 33,274.58 points.

The broader S&P-500 gained 44.06 points, or 1.05%, to 4,237.86 points.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced 210.23 points (1.64%) to 13,061.47 points.

During a press conference following the Fed’s statement announcing its decision, the president of the American central bank, Jerome Powell, declared that the officials of the institution were not yet completely convinced that the monetary tightening was enough to bring inflation back to the level they want.

Losing part of their gains as Jerome Powell began to speak to journalists, the main Wall Street indices quickly started to rise again as the end of the session approached.

This is explained by the fact that the head of the Fed did not appear “completely conservative”, as was the case during previous press conferences, commented Michael James, director of Wedbush Securities, in Los Angeles.

“He hasn’t been as assertive about ‘higher for longer’ as he has been in the past. That’s what speculators are going to focus on, even though (Powell) has indicated that the Fed still had a way to go to reach its 2% inflation target, Michael James said.

Ellen Hazen, chief strategist at FLPutnam Investment Management in Massachusetts, said it was “difficult to say whether we are at the end” of the rate-hike cycle, which the Fed began in March. 2022 in order to stem galloping inflation.

“The Fed really wants to keep the door open for additional hikes in December or next year. It has changed its rhetoric a bit, reflecting in particular its analysis that the economy is stronger than it was previously,” she declared.

Prior to the Fed’s statement, major Wall Street indexes had posted gains in the wake of falling bond yields as the US Treasury Department announced it would slow the pace of its debt auctions over the period. November-January and would then need three additional months to achieve its financial goals.

Investors also kept a close eye on quarterly results, as the season entered its second half.

While 79.7% of the 310 S&P-500 companies reporting results beat expectations, according to LSEG data, investors were disappointed by some mixed results and forecasts for the current quarter.

Nine of the eleven major sectors of the S&P-500 finished in the green, including information technology, up 2%. Energy fell 0.3%.

On the value side, Estee Lauder plunged 18.9% after the group revised its annual profit forecast downwards.

Paycom Software tumbled 38.5% in the wake of disappointing expectations for the fourth quarter. Match Group fell 15.3% after saying it expected quarterly turnover lower than expected for the October-December period.

( Jean Terzian)

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