Nicole Webb, Gary Kaltbaum and Phil Blancato react to the Federal Reserve raising the fund rate by 25 basis points on ‘Making Money.’
U.S. equity futures traded between gains and losses the morning after the Federal Reserve announced its first interest rate hike since 2008 and China promised support for its real estate and internet industries.
The major futures indexes suggest a slight decline when the opening bell rings.
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U.S. oil prices gained more than $2 per barrel but stayed below $100.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up $2.22, or 2.3%, to $97.27 a barrel.
Brent crude futures were up about $2.40, or 2.4%, to $100.42 a barrel.
The Fed raised its short term lending rate by 0.25 percentage points. The move was widely expected but investors were reassured it was smaller than the 0.5 percentage point hike advocated by some officials.
FED RAISES INTEREST RATES FOR FIRST TIME IN 3 YEARS
On Thursday’s economic calendar, the Labor Department is out with its tally of new claims for unemployment benefits for last week. Expectations are for 220,000, little changed from 227,000 the previous week. Continuing claims, which track the total number of unemployed workers collecting benefits, are anticipated to edge down to 1.485 million, holding well below pre-pandemic levels.
Meantime the Commerce Department is expected to say that the number of new homes under construction in February rose 3.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.69 million. That’s up from 1.638 million in January. Permits for future construction are anticipated to fall 2.4% to 1.85 million in February, down from 1.895 million the previous month.
Also, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve will release its index of manufacturing activity for eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware.
And the Federal Reserve will release industrial production data for February.
In Asia, The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo surged 3.4%., the Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 6.3% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index advanced 1.4%.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 34063.1 | +518.76 | +1.55% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 4357.86 | +95.41 | +2.24% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 13436.55295 | +487.93 | +3.77% |
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose to 4,357.86. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.4% to 34,063.10. The Nasdaq composite gained 3.8% to 13,436.55 for its biggest daily gain in 16 months.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
