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By Ritu, Capital Sands European stocks found their feet again on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signalled that it’s likely to remain on hold throughout next year, seemingly convinced that historically low jobless rates won’t create enough inflationary pressure to warrant a rate hike. By 5 AM ET (1000 GMT), the benchmark Stoxx 600 was up 0.3% at 407.50, while the FTSE MIB was up 0.7% and the FTSE 100 was up 0.6%. Airlines and semiconductor stocks were among the biggest winners. The biggest gainer on the continent was, however, Russia's RTS, where the heavily-weighted commodities companies all profited from the dollar’s post-Fed decline. A weaker dollar generally supports prices for commodities from oil to base metals and gold. The FTSE’s gain was all the more notable, given that it came against the backdrop of sterling strength – GBP/USD was steady at above $1.32 in morning trade in London. Traders ...
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By Ritu, Capital Sands The U.S. dollar index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies slipped 0.1% to 97.035 by 10:02 PM ET. Overnight, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) left its benchmark rate unchanged in the range of 1.5% to 1.75%. "Committee judges that the current stance of monetary policy is appropriate to support sustained expansion of economic activity, strong labor market conditions, and inflation near the Committee's symmetric 2 percent objective," the FOMC said in its statement. In July, the Fed cut interest rates for the first time since the Financial Crisis, more than a decade ago. Two further rate cuts followed the July cut. “In order to move rates up, I would want to see inflation that’s persistent and that’s significant,”Fed Jerome Powell at a news conference in Washington. "A significant move up in inflation that's also persistent before raising rates to address inflation ...
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