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Oct 11 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s major indexes closed
higher after Wednesday’s choppy session with the release of
minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s last meeting showing
caution among policy makers that helped fuel investor hopes that
rates would stay steady.
The Fed pointed to uncertainties around the economy, oil
prices and financial markets as supporting “the case for
proceeding carefully
in determining the extent of additional policy firming that
may be appropriate,” according to the minutes released on
Wednesday from the Sept. 19-20 meeting.
Trading was choppy on Wednesday with all the indexes
starting off the session with gains before turning lower ahead
of the minutes and then regaining lost ground.
Along with recent moves in interest rates and dovish
comments from Fed officials in the last few days, Angelo
Kourkafas, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones, said
the minutes appeared encouraging for investors.
“Today’s release highlights the risk of over-tightening, and
knowing what has happened over the past three weeks with
interest rates, that provides some comfort to investors that
we’re not going to see another rate hike,” said Kourkafas.
But he noted that the Fed’s next decisions will take
into account consumer price reading for September, due out on
Thursday as the Fed’s “data dependence hasn’t gone away.”
Earlier on Wednesday, data showed that U.S. producer
prices increased more than expected in September amid higher
costs for energy products, but underlying inflation pressures at
the factory gate continued to moderate.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500
gained 18.56 points, or 0.43%, to end at 4,376.80 points,
while the Nasdaq Composite gained 96.83 points, or
0.71%, to 13,659.68. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
rose 57.27 points, or 0.17%, to 33,796.57.
The energy index was dragged down during the session
due to a slump in Exxon Mobil shares after the oil and
gas producer agreed to buy rival Pioneer Natural Resources
in an all-stock deal valued at $59.5 billion.
Earlier, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman repeated her view that
the U.S. central bank will probably need to tighten monetary
policy further, while Fed Governor Christopher Waller said the
central bank is in a position to watch and see what happens with
interest rates.
Yields on benchmark 10-year notes earlier on Wednesday
falling to a roughly two-week low as investors flocked to safe
haven bets as a war in the Middle East raged after a deadly
weekend attack by Hamas on Israel killed hundreds.
Israel continued to pound Gaza with retaliatory air
strikes, killing hundreds of Palestinians, including women and
children. Israel formed an emergency unity government on
Wednesday and its army said it killed three Hamas militants.
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru;
Editing by Arun Koyyur and Shounak Dasgupta)
