Wall Street rises as US rates kept on hold

Wall Street rose strongly overnight as US authorities, too, kept rates on hold and oil prices continued to fall.

The Fed said the US economy is too fragile to raise rates – and kept its marker rate at 2 per cent.

That encouraged traders, even though the authorities added two warnings to their announcement.

“Financial markets remain under considerable stress,” the Fed’s Open Market Committee said.
And it added:”upside risks to inflation are also of considerable concern.”

The Dow Jones industrial index rose 331.62 points to close at 11,615.77.

This was the biggest rise seen on Wall Street since April 1.

The S&P 500 also closed higher, rising 35.87 points to close at 1,284.88.

And the tech heavy NASDAQ composite index climbed 64.27 points to 2,349.83.

The $A continued to fall overnight against the $US.

A short time ago, it was trading at 91.57 US cents.

Oil futures fell $US2.75 a barrel to $118.66.