The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that North American indexes closed higher on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged and comments from its top official fuelled investor optimism rate increases were done, even though the central bank left the door open for more. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that Fed chairman Jerome Powell said policy-makers would proceed carefully although they were not yet confident financial conditions were restrictive enough to get inflation as low as the central bank would like. Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management, wrote that while there is still a potential risk for the Fed to raise rates again, Mr. Powell's commentary suggests that "the bar has become higher for rate hikes." Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, wrote that while Mr. Powell insisted he was keeping options open for an increase, "He didn't seem very convincing." The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 205.53 points to 19,079.00, notching its third day of gains. First Quantum Minerals dropped 8 per cent, taking its three-day fall to 53 per cent, on jitters over the future of its Cobre mine permit in Panama.