US markets rallied and the Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed to a five-week high after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark.
In addition to the rate cut, the fed said it was prepared to expand already announced large purchases of debt issued by government-sponsor mortgage agencies to support the battered US housing market.
Interest rate to a record low and said it will employ "all available tools" to revive the economy. The decision to make the cut was unanimous and marks the first time the target rate has been below 1% in 50 years.
Citigroup jumped 11% and JP Morgan chase up 13% after the central bank said it "stands ready to expand" purchases of mortgage-backed securities.
Goldman Sachs posted larger-than-expected quarterly loss, credit rating was owngraded to a1 by Moody's.
In economic news, November CPI dropped 1.7% month-over-month while housing starts data for November declined 18.9% from the prior month to an annualized rate of 625,000 units.
The Dow gained 359.61 points, or 4.20%, to 8,924.14. The S&P 500 index rose 44.61 points, or 5.14%, to 913.18, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 81.55 points, or 5.41%, to 1,589.89.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment