US stocks rise as Fed promises “full range of tools to support the economy”

Markets were mixed on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 rose 1.2 percent but the STOXX Europe 600 slipped 0.1 percent.

Earlier in Asia, the Shanghai Composite surged 2.1 percent but the Nikkei 225 fell 1.2 percent.

At its monetary policy meeting, the Federal Reserve voted to keep its federal funds rate close to zero and again said it would keep interest rates near zero until employment recovers and inflation picks up.

At a press conference after the meeting, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that the Fed “is committed to using our full range of tools to support the economy and help assure that the recovery from this difficult period will be as robust as possible”.

Unfortunately, the surge in US COVID-19 cases may be hampering that recovery, with Reuters reporting that deaths nationally topped 150,000 on Wednesday.

“We have seen some signs in recent weeks that the increase in virus cases and the renewed measures to control it are starting to weigh on economic activity,” said Powell at the press conference.