Global Stocks Rise, Oil Prices Fall

Global stock markets advanced on Thursday, a day after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates to curb inflationary pressure. The rate increase had been widely anticipated, and investor sentiment received an additional boost from falling oil prices.

Suzanne Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said investors took comfort from the Fed's firm stance in resisting loud calls from President Donald Trump to cut rates. Comments from Fed official Kevin Warsh suggested the fight against inflation is far from over, with expectations building for further rate increases, Streeter added.

Market optimism was further supported by hopes that Saudi Arabia could restore about 50% of capacity on the East-West oil pipeline within days. The pipeline was shut down last week following an attack by Yemen's Houthi militants.

Market performance

In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% to 51,778.04 points, the S&P 500 gained 1.1% to reach 7,637.76 points, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.7% to 26,418.30 points.

In London, the FTSE 100 rose 1.2% to 10,816.14 points after the Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged, as expected. Paris's CAC 40 gained 0.6%, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 rose 0.7%.

Oil and currencies

WTI crude fell 0.5% to $101.91 per barrel, while Brent crude dropped 1.0% to $104.82. Dutch TTF natural gas prices fell 2.15% to €76.35 per megawatt-hour.

In currency markets, the euro strengthened against the dollar to $1.1480, while the pound weakened against the dollar to $1.3358. The dollar fell against the Japanese yen, while the euro gained against the British pound.