U.S. stocks rise ahead of Fed’s decision on interest rates

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com — U.S. stocks were rising as investors await the Federal Reserve’s latest decision on interest rates later today.

At 10:38 ET (15:38 GMT), the was up 141 points or 0.4%, while the was up 0.4% and the was up 0.4%.

Wall Street will raise rates but by a half percentage point increment, which is smaller than the 0.75 percentage point increases it has put in place after each of its four most recent meetings. 

Investors are eager to hear from Chair Jerome Powell, who will speak at a press conference after the release of the this afternoon. All ears will be perked for any hints as to the Fed’s thinking on how long interest rates will remain elevated and whether it foresees a reversal of policy in the next year or so.

Tuesday’s report on for November showed prices are cooling, but that might not be enough to convince the Fed that its work to tame inflation is over. 

Fed officials including Powell have said recently that they see interest rates remaining higher for longer, and that the ultimate rate might be higher than the forecasts from September. Today will bring a new set of forecasts for inflation as well as gross domestic product and unemployment.

Wall Street is expecting two rate hikes of 25 basis-points next year, which would raise the terminal rate to 4.82% by May, Reuters reported.

Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:) stock rose 3.5% after the airline said adjusted earnings are expected to nearly double next year, with a forecast for revenue to rise 15% to 20% from this year.

Aspen Group Inc (NASDAQ:) stock rose 28.5% after the online education company for revenue.

Oil rose. were up 1.3% to $76.36 a barrel while were up 1.2% to $81.71 a barrel. fell 0.2% to $1822.

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