There is a screen at the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Hiroshi Watanabe is a photographer.
The Federal Reserve's decision to wrap up economic stimulus more quickly as growth picks up pushed the S&P 500 back towards record highs.
The futures on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were both up by 0.64% as of 06:00 a.m, indicating a strong start to trading later in the day.
The Fed said on Wednesday that it was taking steps that would ensure economic growth was sustained, and that most Covid-hit sectors had recovered.
Progress on vaccinations and an easing of supply constraints are expected to support continued gains in economic activity and employment as well as a reduction in inflation. The Fed said in a statement on Wednesday that there are risks to the economic outlook.
The Federal Open Market Committee favored raising interest rates at a faster pace than was initially expected to prevent inflation from increasing further. The central bank said it could raise interest rates three times next year and that it would double the rate of tapering to $30 billion a month.
The Fed has been able to navigate the adjustment in market expectations for the path of policy without causing financial conditions to tighten, according to Allison Boxer and Tiffany Wilding.
The Fed's decision suggested that economies could recover from the Pandemic even though the Omicron variant was on the rise.
In Asia stocks rose, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.23%, while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 2.13%.
The Fed's decision was welcomed by investors in Europe. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index climbed 1.17%, as the London's FTSE 100 was up 0.98%.
With the Fed meeting now in the rear-view mirror, all attention is on the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, where the inflation problem is just as real, especially after yesterday's big jump in consumer price index in November.
The Bank of England's policymakers have a lot of uncertainty. They didn't raise UK rates last month because of inflation. The government has already introduced rules on mask-wearing due to the spread of the Omicron variant and now they have to juggle the opposing forces of a tight labor market and rising inflation.
The dollar index fell. The weakness in the US currency was a factor in the rise of gold.
The price of crude was up and down, with the price of crude in the Middle East rising and the price of crude in the US falling.
Cryptocurrencies and other risk assets rallied. Solana's sol increased by 10.2%, while cardano's ada increased by 4.9%.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note was down.
Business Insider has an original article.
