Stocks are ripping higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced it was leaving interest rates unchanged.
Near 2:45 p.m. ET, the Dow was up 125 points, the S&P 500 was up a little under 15 points, and the Nasdaq was up around 40 points after being slightly down for most of the day preceding the announcement.
The FOMC kept the key interest rate unchanged at 0.25%-0.50% Wednesday, as was predicted by most analysts. The committee did cite financial conditions as a reason for the hold. "However, global economic and financial developments continue to pose risks," said the official statement.
Gold also spiked immediately following the Fed and futures contracts are up $11 as of 2:15 p.m. ET.
Data on consumer prices out this morning showed that inflation is gaining momentum. The "core" consumer price index (CPI) rose to a post-crisis high of 2.3% year-on-year. Headline inflation fell 0.2%, pulled down by the energy index.
In other economic data, industrial production fell more than expected, weighed down by low activity in mining and utilities. And, housing starts rose more than expected, by 5.2% to an annualized pace of 1.178 million.
Crude oil prices were rising after we got more OPEC headlines. According to Bloomberg, Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said 15 oil-producing states plan to meet April 17 in Doha. It is possible that they reach an agreement to freeze production, amid a serious global supply surplus.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures in New York rose as much as 3% to as high as $37.50 per barrel. WTI hit a low of $35.96 on Tuesday.
