US: Wall Street rises as Powell gives no signal on taper

[WASHINGTON] Wall Street's main indexes extended gains on Friday as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signalled the US central bank will remain patient as it tries to nurse the economy back to full employment.

In prepared remarks for a speech to the Jackson Hole economic conference, Mr Powell said the US economy continued to make progress towards the central bank's benchmarks for reducing its pandemic-era emergency programmes, but stopped short of signalling the timing for any policy shift.

At 10.04 am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 172.86 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 35,385.98, the S&P 500 was up 24.65 points, or 0.55 per cent, at 4,494.65, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 88.54 points, or 0.59 per cent, at 15,034.35.

REUTERS