{"id":120544,"date":"2021-08-27T19:53:38","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T19:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=120544"},"modified":"2021-08-27T19:53:38","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T19:53:38","slug":"wall-street-stocks-soar-u-s-yields-fall-after-powells-dovish-speech-on-bond-tapering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/wall-street-stocks-soar-u-s-yields-fall-after-powells-dovish-speech-on-bond-tapering\/","title":{"rendered":"Wall street stocks soar, U.S. yields fall after Powell's dovish speech on bond tapering"},"content":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street stocks soared while U.S. Treasury yields fell on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated in a closely watched speech that the U.S. central bank could begin scaling back its bond buying program by year-end.<\/p> Powell\u2019s comments largely reaffirmed market sentiments on the pace of the Fed\u2019s unwinding of its massive economic support package. He was noncommittal on the precise timing of the Fed\u2019s bond tapering, unlike earlier remarks by several regional Fed presidents.<\/p>\n At the Fed\u2019s annual Jackson Hole, Wyoming, conference on Friday, Powell also indicated the bank would remain cautious in raising interest rates as it tries to nurse the economy to full employment and would avoid chasing \u201ctransitory\u201d inflation.<\/p>\n Following Powell\u2019s comments, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit record highs driven by stocks in technology, communications, consumer discretionary and financials. The Dow was also trading higher in early afternoon.<\/p>\n The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 1.3121% after Powell\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n \u201cI think markets pretty much anticipated this. The market has been making a new high every single day and week, and it needs low rates to perform,\u201d said David Kalis, partner at Future Fund LLC in Chicago.<\/p>\n The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 50 countries, rose 0.79%, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index gained 0.43%.<\/p>\n Overnight in Asia, the MSCI\u2019s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.25%, capping its best week since February.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Fed is also aware that they can\u2019t raise rates aggressively, and inflation does seem transitory as the economy opens up and things get back in gear,\u201d Kalis said.<\/p>\n On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.74% at 35,473.03, the S&P 500 gained 0.90% to 4,510.06 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.16% to 15,119.41.<\/p>\n The dollar slid after the market perceived Powell\u2019s speech to be dovish, even as he indicated tapering the Fed\u2019s massive support to the economy could start by year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n The dollar index, which measures the greenback\u2019s performance against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.42% to 92.662.<\/p>\n Gold gained more than 1% on Friday after Powell stopped short of signaling when the Fed would start withdrawing its economic support.<\/p>\n Spot gold was up 1.4% at $1,817.45 an ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 0.61% to $1,803.10 an ounce.<\/p>\n Oil prices increased nearly 2% and were on track for their biggest weekly gains in over a year as energy companies began shutting production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico ahead of a major hurricane expected to hit early next week.<\/p>\n Brent futures rose 1.93% to $72.43 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 1.77% to $68.61.<\/p>\n