Near Perfect Conditions Suggest 30% Rally for Stocks in Next 12 Months: Hays

The Fed steps in, and stocks soar: Dow climbs 206

NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market staged a huge rally Thursday after investors got the aggressive economic help they wanted from the Federal Reserve.

 

The Dow Jones industrial average spiked more than 200 points and cleared 13,500 for the first time since the beginning of the Great Recession. The average is within 625 points of its all-time high.

The Fed said it would buy $40 billion of mortgage securities a month until the economy improves. It left open the possibilities of buying other assets and of buying long after the recovery picks up.
The central bank also extended its pledge of super-low short-term interest rates into 2015, and extended a program to drive down long-term rates.

It was the package known as QE3 — a third round of quantitative easing, in market-speak. And it was just what investors were hoping for.

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Gravity-defying boom

SWEET SPOT: Malaysia’s economy helped by strong growth

KUALA LUMPUR: MALAYSIA has received the thumbs up from foreign analysts and media on how it manages the economy.

Analysts, both local and foreign were stunned on Wednesday following Bank Negara’s announcement that the country was growing at a much faster pace than anticipated.

The central bank backed this, when it announced a 5.4 per cent growth in economic activities between April and June, spurred by the investments in both private and public sector spending.

For the first half of the year, the economy clocked a 5.1 per cent growth.

The strong results, at a time when most economies in the world are suffering, immediately caught the eye of the foreign media.

In recent days, Malaysia’s economy has been described to be in a “sweet spot” helped by strong growth and a subdued inflation trajectory.

Read more: Gravity-defying boom - Top News - New Straits Times

3 Reasons Why This Rally Is Real and Will Last