On Thursday, US stock indexes ended trading higher amid statements by the head of the US Federal Reserve System Jerome Powell. Yesterday, an online speech by the Fed chairman took place, during which Powell stated that the regulator intends to fully focus in the future on reducing the inflation rate to the target level of 2%. The next Fed meeting will be held on September 20-21, and Powell will not speak again until then. After the speech of the Fed’s head, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 193.24 points (0.61%) and amounted to 31774.52 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose by 26.31 points (0.66%) to 4006.18 points. The Nasdaq Composite gained 70.23 points (0.6%) and amounted to 11,862.13 points. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank raised all three key interest rates by 75 bps following Thursday's meeting. The base interest rate on loans was raised to 1.25%, the deposit rate to 0.75%, the rate on margin loans to 1.5%. The regulator also announced its intention to continue raising rates at the next few meetings. In addition, market participants drew attention to the data of the US Department of Labor on the number of unemployment benefits. The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits for the first time decreased by 6 thousand last week and amounted to 222 thousand people. This was the lowest since the end of May.
