Dow And S&P 500 Jump To New Record Highs On Fed Decision

(RTTNews) - With traders reacting positively to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, stocks have moved sharply higher in mid-afternoon trading on Wednesday. The major averages have shown strong upward moves, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching new record highs.

The rally on Wall Street comes on the heels of news that the Fed surprised most economists by refraining from scaling back its asset purchase program.

The Fed said it would continue to purchase bonds at a pace of $85 billion per month, noting that it decided to wait for more evidence that economic progress will be sustained before adjusting the pace of its purchases.

Gold stocks have shown a substantial upward move on the heels of the Fed announcement, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 8.4 percent. The strength in the sector comes as the price of gold has spiked higher in electronic trading.

Significant strength has also emerged among housing stocks, as reflected by the 4 percent gain being posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. The gain has lifted the index to a two-month high.

Commercial real estate, utilities, and steel stocks have also moved notably higher, moving to the upside along with most of the major sectors.

The major averages have seen some further upside in recent trading, reaching new highs for the session. The Dow is up 148.63 points or 1 percent at 15,678.36, the Nasdaq is up 35.09 points or 0.9 percent at 3,780.79 and the S&P 500 is up 20.50 points or 1.2 percent at 1,725.26.