US stocks rally on Fed minutes’ cues

October 9, 2015

PerformanceGurus Staff

Stocks traded higher in the morning session on Friday, as investors continued to digest the minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s September meeting released on Thursday. At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 22.22 points, or 0.13%, to 17,072.97. The S&P 500 ticked up 1.61 points, or 0.08%, to 2,015.04. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 17. 26 points, or 0.36%, to 4,828.05, reports Xinhua news agency.

“So, the minutes showed a Fed mired in indecision, erring on the side of dovishness,” said Stephen Guilfoyle, managing director at Deep Value.

According to minutes, the information reviewed for the September 16-17 meeting suggested that the US real gross domestic product (GDP) was expanding at a moderate pace in the third quarter.

Domestic financial conditions, however, tightened modestly as concerns about prospects for global economic growth prompted an increase in financial market volatility and a deterioration in risk sentiment during the period.

“Many (officials) acknowledged that recent global economic and financial developments may have increased the downside risks to economic activity somewhat,” the minutes said.

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]N[/dropcap]ew York Fed President William Dudley said Friday that the international developments in August and financial developments in the month raised some questions about the strength of the global outlook.

On the economic front, import prices edged down 0.1% in September, less than market expectations of a 0.5% drop, said the US Labour Department Friday. However, export prices declined 0.7%, more than the 0.2% estimate by analysts.

Another school of thought thinks that rates will not rise for a long time, owing to disruption in derivative margin calls, China slowdown, Oil price crash and the resulting Domino effect.

The US stocks reversed early losses to end higher on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average on a five-day winning streak.