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US stocks rose sharply on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the second time in three months, as expected. The Fed, which raised its target rate by 25 basis points, or a quarter of a percentage point, to between 0.75 and 1.00 per cent, did not however flag any plan to accelerate the pace of monetary tightening, a concern that had lingered among some market participants. Markets were expecting the Fed's decision and traders had priced in more than a 90 per cent chance of a quarter-point rate increase, according to federal funds futures. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 112.73 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 20,950.1, the S&P 500 gained 19.81 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 2,385.26 and the Nasdaq Composite added 43.23 points, or 0.74 per cent, to 5,900.05. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks rose 1.5 per cent, while financials on the S&P 500 were the worst-performing sector. US retail sales recorded their smallest gain in six months in February, setting US gross domestic product on track to grow at a 0.8 per cent annualised pace in the first quarter. Energy stocks boosted the S&P 500 as oil prices rose for the first time in more than a week on a surprise drawdown in US crude inventories.  US crude CLc1 gained 2.6 per cent to $48.96 per barrel and Brent LCOc1 added 2.3 per cent to $52.08. Exxon shares rose 1.2 per cent and Chevron added 1.4 per cent. Apple closed up 1.1 per cent at $140.46 after RBC raised its price target on the stock. Twitter ended down 1.9 per cent at $15.03 after a number of prominent accounts on the microblogging website were hacked, according to Reuters.....

Published at: 2017-03-16 00:00:04

The US Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday for the second time in three months, a move spurred by steady economic growth, strong job gains and confidence that inflation is rising to the central bank's target. The decision to lift the target overnight interest rate by 25 basis points to a range of 0.75 per cent to 1.00 per cent marked a convincing step in the Fed's effort to return monetary policy to a more normal footing. Fed Chair Janet Yellen pointed to growing faith in the economy's trajectory. "We have seen the economy progress over the last several months in exactly the way we anticipated," Yellen said in a press conference following the end of a two-day policy meeting. "We have some confidence in the path the economy is on." The Fed also stuck to its outlook for two additional rate increases this year and three more in 2018. The central bank lifted rates once in 2016. Stock markets extended gains .SPX and bond yields fell on the benign economic outlook and the continued steady path of rate rises signaled by the central bank. The dollar .DXY was trading lower against a basket of currencies. Fed policymakers noted that inflation was now "close" to the central bank's 2 per cent target, and that business investment had "firmed somewhat" after months of weakness. However, they did not flag any plan to accelerate the pace of monetary tightening, with the policy-setting committee reiterating and Yellen emphasising that future rate increases would be "gradual." At the current pace, rates would not return to a neutral level until the end of 2019. Rather, the Fed's statement said the inflation target was "symmetric," indicating that after a decade of below-target inflation it could tolerate a quicker pace of price rises. "It relieves some of the fears we've had that perhaps the Fed was going to raise rates faster in the future. They've chosen not to signal that," said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial. 'NOT A CEILING' Labour groups have urged the Fed to raise rates as slowly as possible so hiring can continue and wage increases take hold. US job gains have averaged 209,000 per month over the past three months, well above the 75,000 to 100,000 needed to keep up with growth in the working-age population. The jobless rate is 4.7 per cent, at or near a level consistent with full employment. The Fed projected that the unemployment rate would fall to 4.5 per cent this year and remain at that level through 2019. Yellen, who has consistently said that the Fed was better equipped to fight inflation than a fresh downturn or surge in joblessness, did not rule out inflation edging above target. "This seemed like a good time to remind Americans that ... sometimes it (inflation) is going to be below 2 per cent, sometimes it is going to above 2 per cent," Yellen told reporters. "Two per cent is not a ceiling." Fresh economic forecasts released with the statement were largely unchanged from those of the December policy meeting and gave little indication the Fed has a clear view of how President Donald Trump's policies may impact the economy. "We have not discussed in detail potential policy changes that could be put into place and we have not tried to map out what our response would be," Yellen said. "We have plenty of time to see what happens." She added that she had held meetings with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and met with Trump once since he took office. The Fed's projections showed the economy growing 2.1 per cent in 2017, unchanged from its December forecast. The median estimate of the long-run interest rate, where monetary policy would be judged as having a neutral effect on the economy, held steady at 3.0 per cent. Core inflation was seen as slightly higher at 1.9 per cent versus the previous 1.8 per cent forecast. The rate increase came amid a broad improvement in the world economic outlook and a sense among Fed policymakers that the US economy is close to the central bank's employment and inflation goals. According to the policy statement, the risks to the outlook remained "roughly balanced." Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari was the only official to dissent in Wednesday's decision, saying he preferred to leave rates unchanged.  ....

Published at: 2017-03-16 00:00:04

Weather may remain dry with temporary partly cloudy sky over the country in next 24 hours until 6pm today (Wednesday), reports UNB. Day temperature may rise slightly and night temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country, Met Office said. The country's highest temperature 31.1 degrees Celsius was recorded on Tuesday in Sitakunda and lowest 11.4 degrees in Dinajpur and Srimangal. The highest temperature recorded in Dhaka on Tuesday was 29.5 degrees Celsius while the lowest was 16.0 degrees. The sun sets in the capital today (Wednesday) at 06:07pm and rises tomorrow (Thursday) at 06:07am.....

Published at: 2017-03-15 00:00:04

A young man was run over by a speeding bus while crossing a road in the city's Pallabi area of Mirpur on Tuesday. The deceased was identified as Maksud Rahman, 29, son of Sirajul Islam from Daulatkhan Upazila of Bhola District. He was crossing the road near Kalshi Police Box at around 10:30am where he got hit by a public bus, said Pallabi Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Dadan Fakir. He said the victim was taken to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) where attending doctors declared him dead. Later, the body was taken to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) for autopsy. However, the police seized the bus with its driver. ahb_mcj2009@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-03-15 00:00:04

Online banking transactions of some banks, particularly Sonali Bank Limited, were disrupted temporally on Tuesday due to a technical glitch that hit an internet service provider. Under the existing provisions, the banks will have to install double links of internet service providers at their each branch to ensure uninterrupted services. The internet-based transactions at around 400 branches of Sonali Bank out of 1,208 remained suspended for an hour in the morning for the activation of alternative internet connection, a Sonali Bank senior officer said. "Everything is now normal," he told the FE. Talking to the FE, a senior official of a leading private commercial bank (PCB) said the disruption was the result of a glitch caused by a fire at a technical office of an internet service provider at Banglamotor in Dhaka Monday night.   "Our bank was not affected because we are using more than two internet connections at each branch to ensure uninterrupted services," the private banker explained. But a senior official of another PCB said his bank faced trouble in making payments online for nearly one hour on Tuesday morning due to the glitch.     However, the central bank did not receive any complaint from banks in this connection, a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE Tuesday night.     siddique.islam@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-03-15 00:00:04