NEW YORK, March 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks advanced on Friday as investors continued to gauge the Federal Reserve's latest announcement on interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 274.17 points, or 0.80 percent, to 34,754.93. The S&P 500 increased 51.45 points, or 1.17 percent, to 4,463.12. The Nasdaq Composite Index rallied 279.06 points, or 2.05 percent, to 13,893.84.
Ten of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with technology and consumer discretionary up 2.19 percent and 2.18 percent, respectively, leading the gainers. Utilities slipped 0.9 percent, the lone declining group.
U.S.-listed Chinese companies traded higher with all the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index ending the day on an upbeat note.
The Fed on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2018 as it seeks to tame the highest U.S. inflation in four decades.
The U.S. central bank decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point and "anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate," the Fed said in a statement after concluding its two-day policy meeting.
In addition, the Fed expects to begin reducing its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities "at a coming meeting."
"The dot plot now matches market expectations for 2022," Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, said Friday in a note, adding "Fed's pace of tightening is consistent with rising stocks."
"Typically, equity performance is positive in the early stages of a rate hiking cycle," he said.
For the week, the Dow and the S&P 500 gained 5.5 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 8.2 percent. ■