Wall Street rallies to end higher after Fed’s interest rate hike

May 4 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks closed sharply higher after staging a late rally on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected interest-rate hike, the biggest rate increase since 2000.

Stocks initially see-sawed after the announcement. The indexes then steadied and rose more than 2.5% following Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by half a percentage point and said it would begin shrinking the central bank’s $9 trillion asset portfolio next month in an effort to further lower inflation.

The U.S. central bank set its target federal funds rate to a range between 0.75% and 1% in a unanimous decision, with further rises in borrowing costs of perhaps similar magnitude likely to follow.

“It’s clear that they (the Fed) understand the need to contain the soaring prices,” said Greg Bassuk, chief executive at AXS Investments in Port Chester, New York.

“Even as the Fed gets more aggressive with rate hikes, we still need to grapple with the geopolitical tensions, the ongoing COVID issues as well as these wide-ranging corporate earnings results. So now withstanding the Fed move, we think we’ll still see some more volatility ahead.”

Investors watched Powell’s news conference for fresh clues on how far and how fast the central bank is prepared to go in an effort to bring down decades-high inflation.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 124.97 points, or 2.99%, to end at 4,300.45 points, while the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) gained 398.73 points, or 3.17%, to 12,962.49. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 927.75 points, or 2.80%, to 34,056.54.

Concerns about a hit to economic growth due to a hawkish Fed, mixed earnings from some big growth companies, the conflict in Ukraine and pandemic-related lockdowns in China have hammered Wall Street recently, with richly valued growth stocks bearing the brunt of the sell-off.

Two separate sets of data showed private employers hired the fewest workers in two years last month, while expansion in the services sector unexpectedly lost some momentum in April. read more

Lyft Inc (LYFT.O) shares plummeted amid concerns about the company’s ridership and spending. The ride hailing company reported first-quarter revenue of $875 million, a 44% increase over the previous year, while the number of active riders missed analyst expectations.

Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) rose after the coffee chain saw quarterly comparable sales grow 12% in North America. read more

Livent Corp (LTHM.N) gained after it posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit and bolstered its 2022 revenue outlook on higher demand for lithium used in electric vehicle batteries. read more

All 11 of the major S&P sectors rose, with energy (.SPNY) and utilities (.SPLRCU) leading the gains.

Bank stocks soared after U.S. Treasury two-year yields, the most sensitive to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate outlook, soared to their highest since Nov 2018. The benchmark 10-year yield topped 3% for a third consecutive day.

Reporting by Echo Wang and Chuck Mikolajczak in New York, Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Anil D’Silva and Cynthia Osterman

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