New York Report: Fed gives Dow a boost to best day in a month
US STOCKS rose yesterday, rebounding from the previous day’s broad selloff, after minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting showed central bankers have discussed the eventual tightening of monetary policy but made no decisions on which tools to use.
The Dow Jones rose one per cent, its biggest daily jump since mid-April. Goldman Sachs was the top gainer on the blue chip index, up 1.9 per cent at $159.35.
Minutes of the Fed meeting showed the Fed staff presented several approaches to raising short-term interest rates, but said the discussion was simply “prudent planning” and not a sign rate hikes would come any time soon.
With the day’s gain, the S&P 500 was up for a third session out of four. But the broad market index was still off about one per cent from its record intraday high on 13 May.
Retail stocks were once again in the spotlight. Tiffany jumped 9.1 per cent to $96.30 as one of the best performers on the S&P 500 after the jewellery retailer raised its full-year profit forecast.
The S&P retail sector index was up 1.2 per cent.
Target reported lower quarterly profit but showed signs of progress in efforts to rebuild customer confidence. The stock ended one per cent than the previous day higher at $57.20.
The Dow Jones rose 158.75 points or 0.97 per cent, to 16,533.06, the S&P 500 gained 15.2 points or 0.81 per cent, to 1,888.03 and the Nasdaq added 34.65 points or 0.85 per cent, to 4,131.54.