US close: Stocks end at day´s highs after Fed hikes rates

Wall Street closed higher and at the day´s highs after the US central bank raised its benchmark interest rate, as had been widely anticipated.

The Dow Jones Industrials closed up by 224 points or 1.28% to reach 17,749 points while the S&P 500 advanced by 30 points or 1.45% and the Nasdaq climbed another 76 points or 1.51%.

"The FOMC yesterday did what it had to do, and said what it had to say. The super-doves were kicked into line, with a unanimous vote, though two members’ blue dots showed they think rates should not have been raised. In our view, though, Dr. Yellen’s avowed intention to raise rates gradually sits uneasily with her — correct — assertion that policy remains very accommodative, bearing in mind that the unemployment rate is now at the Fed’s estimate of the Nairu, while evidence ofaccelerating wage gains is burgeoning," said Ian Sheperdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

By industrial sectors, Gambling (4.51%), Platinum (4.01%) and Consumer electronics (3.68%) registered the sharpest gains.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note retreated by three basis points to 2.27%.

In other events, US mortgage applications fell 1.1% in the week to 11 December, following a 1.2% increase over the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers’ Association.

Housing starts rebounded in November from a seven-month low, rising 10.5% to 1.17m units, the Commerce Department revealed. Analysts had expected 1.13m units. October's starts were largely unchanged at 1.06m.

Factory output Stateside fell by 0.6% in November, worse than forecasts for a 0.2% drop and the previous month’s 0.3% decrease, although economists were mixed in the degree of concern aired in reaction to the data.

Elsewhere, the People’s Bank of China said economic growth in the world’s second-largest economy was expected to slow to 6.8% in 2016. The PBoC attributed the slight slowdown to industrial overcapacity, rising bad loans from banks and sluggish demand for the nation's goods.

In company news, Walt Disney rallied as Star Wars hit screens worldwide and was well received by critics.

Payment processor Heartland Payment saw a huge advance in its shares after agreeing to be bought by Global Payments for $4.3bn.

CVS Health Corp. jumped after it revised up its 2016 adjusted earnings-per-share outlook to between $5.73 and $5.88 from between $5.68 and $5.88.

Chipotle Mexican Grill advanced after it said it plans to decrease its use of locally sourced ingredients to try and win back customers scared off by an E.coli outbreak.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate futures were flat at $36.88 per barrel and Brent crude fell 3.42% to $37.18 per barrel.

Metals prices´, on the other hand, were sitting higher on the Comex with gold up 0.89%, silver advancing 2.21% and copper higher by 1.39%.

The dollar was down 0.4% against the euro but up 0.06% against the pound and up 0.15% against the yen.

S&P 500 - Risers
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) $8.00 +11.89%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $65.62 +9.68%
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) $104.08 +5.70%
Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) $153.10 +5.56%
CVS Health Corp (CVS) $97.56 +5.37%
Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW) $3.99 +5.00%
NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE) $103.65 +4.99%
Ryder System Inc. (R) $59.26 +4.90%
Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $4.74 +4.87%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $68.99 +4.47%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) $134.40 -7.04%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $13.78 -4.70%
Cimarex Energy Co (XEC) $100.56 -4.31%
Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) $30.57 -4.08%
Nucor Corp. (NUE) $38.66 -3.76%
Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) $44.76 -3.74%
Halliburton Co. (HAL) $35.86 -3.34%
Leucadia National Corp. (LUK) $16.49 -2.77%
Ensco Plc. (ESV) $16.00 -2.44%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $46.72 -2.42%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $186.21 +2.31%
General Electric Co. (GE) $30.98 +2.18%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $67.53 +2.16%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $54.02 +2.12%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $46.51 +2.11%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $95.13 +2.01%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $130.93 +1.80%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $43.84 +1.79%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $56.13 +1.68%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $80.99 +1.64%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $66.23 -0.41%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $79.15 -0.35%