Stocks up after Fed cites continuing strong economy

U.S. stocks climbed and the dollar jumped to a twoweek high after the Federal Reserve cited a strong economy when it raised interest rates.

The U.S. economy grew at a robust annual rate of 4.2 percent in the second quarter, the best performance in nearly four years.

The performance of the gross domestic product, the country’s total output of goods and services, was unchanged from an estimate the Commerce Department made last month, the government reported Thursday.

Gains in the largest tech companies made the Nasdaq the best performing major gauge, with both Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. up about 2 percent. The likelihood of more Fed rate increases stretching into next year helped lift the greenback the most in a month. Argentina’s peso weakened a fourth day even after the country won a promise of extra cash from the International Monetary Fund. Ten-year Treasury yields held steady; the euro fell.

Volume in the S&P 500 Index was about 4 percent below average as some traders turned their attention to a U.S. Senate panel hearing testimony from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and a woman who accuses him of sexual assault.

U.S. stock traders brushed aside concerns that trade tensions could increase and accepted the outlook for higher borrowing costs a day after Fed officials signaled policy tightening was here to stay, even as President Donald Trump said he was “not happy” about Wednesday’s rate increase. He also struck a downbeat tone about trade talks with Canada, and accused China of trying to interfere in U.S. congressional elections in November.

“The stock market’s telling me the trade thing is not that big of a deal,” said Jeffrey Saut, the chief investment strategist at Raymond James. “Trump always asks for the moon and then walks back his position and declares victory.”

Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 ended higher after declines in Asian shares. The euro fell with Italian bonds and equities before Italy’s coalition government agreed on a 2019 budget deficit. Crude climbed as U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said the nation’s strategic oil reserves won’t be tapped to expand global supplies.