Treasury yields jump, global stocks dip after Fed statement

Treasury yields jump, global stocks dip after Fed statement

Thomas White

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields rose, the dollar gained while U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled it expects one more interest rake hike by the end of the year.

In its statement, the Fed, as expected, left rates unchanged and also said it would begin in October to reduce its approximately $4.2 trillion in holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities.

Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields jumped to their highest levels in six weeks. Benchmark 10-year notes fell 11/32 in price to yield 2.29 percent, up from 2.24 percent before the Fed’s statement and the highest level since Aug. 8.

The reaction in the Treasury market "suggests a lot of people maybe weren't anticipating the Fed would stick with the third rate hike expectation this year. So there's a little adjustment going on there," said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Boston.

Interest rate futures traders are now pricing in a 72-percent chance of a December rate hike, up from roughly 60 percent before the statement, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Financial shares added to gains following the statement while utilities declined.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.dji> rose 7.97 points, or 0.04 percent, to 22,378.77, the S&P 500 <.spx> lost 2.64 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,504.01 and the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> dropped 21.76 points, or 0.34 percent, to 6,439.57.lost 0.09

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.fteu3> lost 0.18 percent. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe <.miwd00000pus> shed 0.25 percent.

The dollar index <.dxy> rose 0.75 percent, with the euro down 0.83 percent to $1.1892.

Stocks had been mostly flat ahead of the Fed statement, while the dollar had been trading slightly lower.

Earlier, the New Zealand dollar hit its strongest in more than a month at $0.7374 after a poll showed the ruling National Party regaining a wide lead over the opposition before Saturday's election.

Oil prices were higher. They earlier pared gains after data showed a bigger-than-expected build in U.S. crude inventories.

U.S. crude rose 1.5 percent to $50.65 per barrel and Brent was last at $55.86, up 1.75 percent on the day.

(Additional reporting by Karen Brettell in New York, Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru, Nigel Stephenson in London and Shinichi Saoshiro in Tokyo; Editing by Catherine Evans and Nick Zieminski)

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