Dollar falls, Wall Street up in volatile post-Fed trading

Federal Reserve signals it may wait until late this year to raise interest rates

The US dollar slid on Wednesday while Wall Street stocks rose in volatile afternoon trading after the Federal Reserve signalled it may wait until late this year to raise interest rates.

The Fed has said it would first raise rates when it deems the economy strong enough to handle it, and on Wednesday said the economy was likely strong enough to support a rate hike by the end of the year. The US central bank also lowered expectations for 2015 economic growth.

Analysts are torn on whether the first rate hike in about 10 years will occur in September or December, but some took Yellen's comments to imply it could be December.

 

"It's a very cozy statement, and so far as when we do this it's going to be gentle, we might need to keep rates low for a long time. It's reiterating everything Janet Yellen has tried embody in the last couple of years," said Andrew Wilkinson, chief market strategist at Interactive Brokers LLC in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, sank 0.8%. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note > rose 1/32 in price, pushing the yield down to 2.3111%.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 30.66 points, or 0.17%, to 17,935.14, the S&P 500 gained 4.11 points, or 0.2%, to 2,100.4 and the Nasdaq Composite added 9.33 points, or 0.18%, to 5,064.88. The S&P 500 seesawed between a loss of 0.35% and a gain of 0.5% throughout the session.

"People have been expecting a rate hike to come, and the market is ready for that. At the same time, we're also still worried about Greece," said Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at Phoenix Financial Services in New York.

Investors fretted about potential fallout if Greece cannot avoid a default on IMF loans, resulting in the country leaving the euro or the European Union.

The MSCI International ACWI Price Index rose 0.3% on the day.

Euro zone finance ministers are due to meet on Thursday, but there was talk of plans being put in place for another emergency summit over Greece at the weekend.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed down 0.5%. The euro > rose 0.8% to $1.1341.

US crude futures fell 0.2% to $59.86, while Brent crude rose 0.1% to $63.78 per barrel. Oil trading was volatile after government data showed a surprise gasoline inventory build last week, even as production eased. 

Gold prices > rose 0.4%, while silver > rose 0.8%. Copper was down less than 0.1%, after falling more than 1% both Monday and Tuesday.