The Federal Reserve System is the central bank of the United States. It performs five general functions: conducts monetary policy to maximize employment, promotes stability of the financial system, promotes safety of financial institutions, fosters payment and settlement system, and promotes consumer protection and community development. On Wednesday the Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome H. Powell announced the slowing of interest rate hikes.
NASDAQ represents the most popular and best performing tech stocks in the market that have generated spectacular returns for their investors. The four stocks — Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) — all trade on the NASDAQ, which measures the performance of more than 3,000 tech and growth stocks that are considered a reflection of the economy and capital market.
U.S. stocks rallied this week as they were lifted up by a strong rebound and the Federal Reserve’s announcement on interest rates. Markets opened stronger on Monday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied over 350 points after a major tech selloff last week. U.S. markets continued to rally into Wednesday ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s announcement. On Wednesday, Powell said the central bank’s benchmark interest rate would be close to a neutral level, which sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average soaring by 627.33 points or a 2.5% gain. The S&P 500 Index gained 120.56 points or 4.5%, as the Nasdaq Composite gained 382.45 points or 5.5%. Powell’s news hinted that the economy is neither growing nor slowing down, suppressing his previous forecast in October that the markets were a “long way” from neutral. Despite the strong rally, the Dow Jones fell by almost 100 points early morning on Thursday due to Wall Street analysts saying that the news may have been misinterpreted by investors and that there may be up to four more interest hikes in 2019 as well as one in December before the end of the year. Markets closed slightly lower on Thursday as investors awaited negotiations from the upcoming G20 Summit on Friday. U.S. President Donald Trump will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Buenos Aires to discuss trade deals regarding the ongoing tariffs.
