BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French stocks rallied on Wednesday as investors braced for a hawkish Fed outcome.
Concluding a two-day policy meeting later today, the Federal Reserve is expected to announce the early termination of QE asset purchases and signal its first rate hike in March to fight inflation.
Markets have already priced in a 25 bps rate hike in March, and three more quarter-point increases by year-end.
The Fed's policy statement is due at 2 p.m. EST. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to begin a news conference half an hour after the release of the statement.
The benchmark CAC 40 climbed 123 points, or 1.8 percent, to 6,960 after gaining 0.7 percent the previous day.
Travel stocks topped the gainers list, with airline Air France KLM rallying almost 4 percent.
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