US: Stocks gain on Fed announcement

The US stocks moved up on Wednesday, 22 September 2021, with the major three indexes finishing sharply higher, thanks to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement that a "moderation in the pace of asset purchases may soon be warranted" if progress towards its goals of maximum employment and price stability continues broadly as expected.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index advanced 338.48 points, or 1%, to 34,258.32. The S&P500 index added 41.45 points, or 0.95%, to 4,395.64. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 150.45 points, or 1.02%, to 14,896.85.

Total 9 of 11 S&P500 sectors advanced, with energy (up 3.2%) was top gainer followed by financials (up 1.6%), information technology (up 1.4%), consumer discretionary (up 1.3%), materials (up 1%).

Total volume turnover on U.S. exchanges stood at 8.40 billion shares, up from yesterday's 8.24 billion shares. In the NYSE exchange, 2679 issues advanced, 673 issues declined, and 101 issues closed unchanged. In the NASDAQ, 3121 issues advanced, 1316 issues declined, and 181 issues unchanged.

ECONOMIC NEWS: FOMC Signals QE Tapering Could Begin Soon-The Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated that QE tapering will come soon. The Fed said in the announcement of its latest monetary policy decision that a "moderation in the pace of asset purchases may soon be warranted" if progress towards its dual goals continues broadly as expected. The central bank kept its fund rate at 0-0.25% and currently plans to continue its bond purchases at a rate of at least $120 billion per month but is expected to begin scaling back later this year. Powell added that board members believed tapering could conclude around mid-2022, opening the way for interest rate hikes after that.

US Existing Home Sales Fall By 2% In August-US existing home sales slumped by 2 percent to an annual rate of 5.88 million in August after jumping by 2.2 percent to a revised rate of 6.00 million in July, the National Association of Realtors reported on Wednesday. The report said the median existing home price for all housing types was $356,700 in August, down 0.8 percent from $359,500 in July but up 14.9 percent from $310,400 in August of 2020.

Among Indian ADR, Vedanta added 2.16% to $16.07, Tata Motors added 3.57% to $21.20, Wipro added 0.85% to $9.49, INFOSYS added 0.65% to $23.27, WNS Holdings added 0.89% to $81.68, and HDFC Bank added 0.25% to $72.73. Dr Reddys Labs fell 0.55% to $65.45 and ICICI Bank fell 0.05% to $19.22.

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