Markets rise as BoJ and Fed maintain easy monetary policies

Markets rallied on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 rose 1.1 percent, the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.4 percent and the Nikkei 225 jumped 1.9 percent.

US crude jumped 2.9 percent.

The US 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.668 percent from 1.687 percent on Tuesday.

Markets rose after investors were encouraged by central bank decisions on Wednesday.

The Bank of Japan abandoned its base money target and instead adopted “yield curve control” under which it will buy long-term government bonds to keep 10-year bond yields at current levels around zero percent.

Later on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve left its policy interest rate unchanged.

The Federal Open Market Committee said in its statement after the decision: “The Committee judges that the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened but decided, for the time being, to wait for further evidence of continued progress toward its objectives.”

While analysts still see a probable rate hike later this year, Bob Doll, senior portfolio manager at Nuveen Asset Management, said that “the stock market’s breathing a sigh of relief that we’ve got a few more months before we have to worry about an increase”.