The release of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes from October generated mostly positive responses from Wall Street today. The Dow finished up over 247 points; The NASDAQ over 89, while the S&P gained just over 33 points. The minutes revealed that the central bank’s voting members believe a rate hike next month would be appropriate. Among the key points in the Oct. Fed minutes:
“The U.S. financial system appeared to have weathered the turbulence in global financial markets without any sign of systemic stress,” the minutes said. “Most participants saw the downside risks arising from economic and financial developments abroad as having diminished and judged the risks to the outlook for domestic economic activity and the labor market to be nearly balanced.”
Energy stocks and oil prices were up too. More from CNBC below.
The current geopolitical situation was also received well on Wall St. as investors saw an overnight raid in Paris as a positive. Officials have not yet identified the two dead in Wednesday’s raids in Saint-Denis. Reports indicate the woman who blew herself up during that operation is a relative of the suspected ringleader of Friday’s attacks in Paris. The ringleader was not among the eight detained in today’s raid.
Here are the final numbers from Wednesday, 11/18/15 on Wall Street:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17, 737.16 (+247.66/ +1.42%)
NASDAQ: 5,075.20 (+89.19 / +1.79%)
S&P 500: 2,083.58 (+33.14 / +1.62%)
