Wall Street was higher on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve voted to leave interest rates at 5.25 percent for another month. The accompanying statement pronounced the economy “somewhat firmer” and said that the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed’s decision-making body, will continue to keep an eye on inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, already up a bit before the decision, extended its gains to 0.7 percent to 12,607.67 by mid-afternoon. The Nasdaq Composite, lower before the announcement, was 0.4 percent higher to 2,457.81 afterwards. The S&P 500, steady earlier in the session, also added 0.4 percent, to 1,435.04.
Despite a fourth-quarter report that showed profits more than double, the Chicago Board of Trade dropped 0.4 percent to $168.40. Time Warner also saw declines, falling 0.9 percent to $21.84, even thought its profits were up by more than 30 percent in the fourth quarter.
In the tobacco sector, Altria dropped 0.3 percent to $87.27 even though its earnings in the fourth quarter were at $1.40 per share, significantly above the $1.23 per share that had been anticipated.
Eastman Kodak added 1.9 percent to $26 as it posted a profit in the fourth quarter, after having posted losses in the same quarter of 2005.
Bristol-Myers Squibb gained 2.5 percent to $28.74 on a report that Lehman Brothers will join Citigroup and Morgan Stanley to advise the pharmaceutical company of its options approaching a takeover bid that is expected from Sanofi Aventis.
The Dow gained on a 4.6 percent rise by Boeing to $89.98 after the aerospace firm raised its earnings guidance for this year after reporting earnings of $1.16 per share in the fourth quarter of 2006, better than the 98 cents per share that had been expected.