The Fed raised interest rates by 75 basis points again, US stocks closed higher, the Nasdaq rose 4%

The three major indexes pulled sharply in midday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 436.05 points, or 1.37%, to close at 32197.59 points. The S&P 500 rose 102.56 points, or 2.62%, to close at 4,023.61. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index soared 469.85 points, or 4.06%, to close at 12,032.42. The Nasdaq posted its biggest one-day gain since April 2020, boosted by the performance of Google parent Alphabet and Microsoft's (Microsoft) financial forecast. The S&P 500 extended its rebound in the second half of the year and closed at its highest point since June 8.

In order to combat inflation at a 40-year high, Federal Reserve Board (Fed) officials again decided to raise interest rates by 3 yards (0.75 percentage points) after June. The target range for the federal funds rate was raised to 2.25% to 2.5%, a neutral level that neither stimulates nor slows the economy, in line with market expectations.

The Fed has decided to raise interest rates four times in a row. Chairman Jerome Powell hinted at a press conference after the meeting that it may raise interest rates by another 3 yards in September, but emphasized that the decision is based on follow-up economic data, and said that the Fed will eventually slow down The pace of rate hikes. Before the U.S. second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data is released tomorrow, Powell said he didn't think the economy was in a recession, citing 2.7 million jobs in the first half of the year and that it was "unreasonable" to say the economy was in a recession.