Stocks rebounded on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve maintained near-zero interest rate levels for now, and indicated that is does not plan to taper its pandemic-era monetary stimulus efforts under next year.
Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
Federal Reserve holds interest rates near zero:
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday held benchmark interest rates near zero at the conclusion of the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee's September meeting, but signalled that rate hikes could happen sooner-than-previously-expected.
"While no decisions were made, participants generally viewed that so long as the recovery remains on track, a gradual tapering process that concludes around the middle of next year is likely to be appropriate," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said during his post-meeting news conference.
Facebook says in underreported ad performance on iPhones in Q3:
Facebook
"We believe that real world conversions, like sales and app installs, are higher than what is being reported for many advertisers," Graham Mudd, vice president of product marketing at Facebook, wrote in a blog post.
"We're optimistic about our multi-year effort to develop new privacy-enhancing technologies that minimize the amount of personal information we process, while still allowing us to show personalized ads and measure their effectiveness," Mudd added.
Existing home sales decline in August:
Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. fell 2% in August from July to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 5.88 million, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) report published Wednesday. While sales were also 1.5% lower than August 2020--the first annual decline in 14 months--sales were still above pre-pandemic levels.
"Sales slipped a bit in August as prices rose nationwide," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, in a press statement. "Although there was a decline in home purchases, potential buyers are out and about searching, but much more measured about their financial limits, and simplay waiting for more inventory."
Here's how market benchmarks started trading soon after open:
S&P 500 Index: +0.47% or +20.46 points to 4,374.65
Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.67% or +225.86 points to 34,145.70
Nasdaq Composite Index: +0.30% or +43.65 points to 14,790.05
