The Japanese yen surged as much as 2% in early Asia hours Thursday, driven by speculations of another round of yen-buying intervention by Japanese authorities and a weaker U.S. dollar following the Fed meeting. Later, the yen reversed its course and erased the previous gains. The dollar was trading at 155.31 yen, up from 154.91 yen.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 2.4% to 18,190.32. Other markets in China remained closed for the Labor Day holiday.On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 5,018.39 after the Fed held its main interest rate at its highest level since 2001, just as markets expected. The index had rallied as much as 1.2% in the afternoon before giving up all the gains at the end of trading.
On the downside for financial markets, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said out loud the fear that's recently sent stock prices lower and erased traders' hopes for imminent cuts to interest rates: “In recent months, inflation has shown a lack of further progress toward our 2% objective.” He also said that it will likely take "longer than previously expected” to get confident enough to cut rates, a move that would ease pressure on the economy and investment prices.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude ended three days of decline and rose 50 cents to $79.50 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, was up 59 cents to $84.03 a barrel.This dividend stock is near 52-week highs, but still down from all-time highs, with a highly valuable P/E ratio you won't want to miss. The post 1 Magnificent Dividend Stock That’s Down 21% and Trading at a Once-in-a-Decade Valuation appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.