By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The S&P 500 climbed Wednesday, led by energy and financials as the broader market took the Fed's signal of a potential November taper in its stride.
The S&P 500 rose 1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.1%, or 369 points, the Nasdaq climbed 0.8%.
“If progress continues broadly as expected, the Committee judges that a moderation in the pace of asset purchases may soon be warranted,” the Fed said in a statement.
Fed chair Jerome Powell later signaled the taper could get underway in November, and end in mid-2022. “Participants generally view, 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,” Powell said in a press conference that followed the monetary policy statement.
Leading up to the meeting, however, many analysts were betting on a November taper, and suggested that the announcement was priced in.
Cyclical sectors including energy climbed more than 3%, underpinned by rising oil prices following data showing weekly U.S. oil supplies fell by a more than expected last week.
Crude oil inventories fell by 4.7 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations for a draw of 2.4 million barrels.
Sentiment on oil has also been supported by “news that the OPEC countries of Nigeria and Angola, and OPEC+ member Kazakhstan, have lasting difficulties expanding their production due to a lack of investment,” Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) said in a note.
In a further boost to sentiment on cyclical stocks - those that move in tandem with the economy - China contagion fears subsided after Evergrande agreed to settle interest payments on a domestic bond on Wednesday, and the central of China pumped further liquidity into the financial system.
In big tech, meanwhile, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), down 4%, proved a drag on the sector after the social media giant warned that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) ad-tracking would hurt growth.
The broader market’s attempt at mounting a rebound comes just ahead of the Federal Reserve monetary policy decision, with the Fed’s plan on tapering its bond purchases likely to dominate investor attention.
“The FOMC will conclude its 2 day meeting this afternoon (9/22) with most expecting the Fed to begin to signal (or least give hints) to the start of tapering in November,” Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) said in a note.