Dow jumps 382 points as Fed eases into next moves – Fox Business

U.S. stocks picked up momentum in the final hour of trading after the Federal Reserve announced it will keep interest rates unchanged and speed up the process for tapering of its bond purchases to $30 billion per month.    

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 382 points, or 1%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped by 1.6% and 2%, respectively.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 35927.43 +383.25 +1.08%
SP500 S&P 500 4709.85 +75.76 +1.63%
I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 15565.582968 +327.94 +2.15%

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged inflation rose way faster than policymakers expected, and said the job market will take longer than expected to recover because people are choosing to stay out of the workforce. 

He also noted cryptocurrencies are not a major risk to the financial system at this time. Bitcoin rose to the $49,000 level. 

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Oil ticked higher by 0.20% to close at $70.87 per barrel.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
USO UNITED STATES OIL FUND L.P. 51.62 +0.70 +1.37%

In stocks, vaccine makers in focus after Dr. Anthony Fauci, during a press briefing, said COVID-19 vaccines do not have to be adjusted to protect against the omicron variant.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
MRNA MODERNA INC. 283.28 +6.12 +2.21%
PFE PFIZER INC. 58.80 +3.26 +5.87%
BNTX BIONTECH SE 287.05 +10.28 +3.71%
JNJ JOHNSON & JOHNSON 171.14 +0.85 +0.50%

Apple remains in focus, with shares on the cusp of pushing the company past the $3 trillion mark. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
AAPL APPLE INC. 179.30 +4.97 +2.85%

Home improvement retailer Lowe’s was under pressure after disclosing full-year sales will be $94 billion to $97 billion, with the lower range below analyst forecasts. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
LOW LOWE’S COS. INC. 257.54 +5.08 +2.01%
HD THE HOME DEPOT INC. 407.81 +5.61 +1.39%

Retail sales rose 0.3%, below the 0.8% economists had forecasted and well below October’s steeper-than-expected 1.7% surge. Excluding the automotive component, spending also rose just 0.3%, compared with 1.7% the prior month. The pullback suggests inflation may be hitting the consumer harder than expected.  

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
WMT WALMART INC. 145.76 +0.83 +0.57%
TGT TARGET CORP. 236.67 +1.27 +0.54%
KSS KOHL’S CORP. 49.18 -0.32 -0.65%

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey came in better than expected with a reading of 31.9, a sign manufacturers see business conditions improving rather than worsening.

PRODUCER PRICES SURGED BY 9.6% IN NOVEMBER, BIGGEST GAIN ON RECORD

And prices of imported goods rose 0.7% month-over-month, after a slightly larger-than-expected increase of 1.2% in October. Export prices jumped 1% in November, below the prior month’s 1.5% spike.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
LEN LENNAR CORP. 113.09 +2.03 +1.83%
TOL TOLL BROTHERS INC. 71.13 +1.04 +1.48%
DHI D.R. HORTON INC. 107.37 +2.63 +2.51%

The National Association of Homebuilders’ sentiment index for December ticked up slightly to 84, the highest since February. 

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FOX Business’ Ken Martin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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