He noted that could prompt Australia’s central bank to take the same view, considering the country’s high levels of household debt.
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On top of that, the devastation caused by recent severe hurricanes could make it hard for Fed policymakers to get a solid read on the economy in the coming weeks as they decide whether to enact another small hike in a key interest rate.
PNC Financial Services rose 1.3 percent.
The Nasdaq is up 1,072.93 points, or 19.9 percent. The 30-year Treasury yield edged up to 2.82 percent.
The Canadian dollar has been exceptionally strong against the USA dollar since the start of the summer, when the Bank of Canada surprised many observers with a bullish economic outlook that has translated into two rate hikes totalling a half a percentage point.
Bond prices move in the opposite direction of yields.
Kraft Heinz fell 1.8 percent and NRG Energy lost 1.5 percent.
Remember, higher interest rates make interest-yielding investments attractive to the detriment of gold, which doesn’t provide yields in terms of regular income. Bank of America rose 1.4 percent.
Oil prices gained about 2 percent despite a rise in US crude inventories. “This puts a little pressure on gold”, said Jeff Klearman, a portfolio manager at GraniteShares, a provider and manager of exchange-traded funds.
U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept the interest rate unchanged, but signaled that there might be one more interest rate hike this year. Brent crude, used to price global oils, gained 55 cents to $55.69 per barrel in London. Many financial stocks were up 2% and auto makers gained at least 1%. Several packaged food companies also declined.
Bed Bath & Beyond BBBY.O sank more than 13 percent after the home furnishing retailer reported earnings and sales below estimates, prompting a slew of price target cuts.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up a fraction of a point at 2,507.
Cereal maker General Mills was also down 8 percent after reporting a disappointing quarter.
Stocks were set to open flat at 0700 GMT, with the JSE securities exchange’s Top-40 futures index barely changed. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.28 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 6,456.04, with Apple Inc as its biggest drag.
By 1600 GMT the rand had weakened 0.2% to 13.3375 per dollar, its weakest since 15 August.
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The 10-year yield /quotes/zigman/15866666/realtime TMUBMUSD10Y is up 2.272%, a rise of 2.4 basis poitns on the day and up from 2.236% ahead of the announcement.
