Stocks jumped on Wednesday in a relief rally from their 2022 doldrums after the Federal Reserve raised rates by a widely anticipated half percentage point and Chairman Jerome Powell ruled out getting even more aggressive in the central bank’s inflation-fighting campaign.
The Dow Jones Industrials hurtled into the stratosphere 932.77 points, or 2.8%, to 34,061.06.
The S&P 500 grabbed 124.69 points, or 3%, to 4,300.17.
The NASDAQ Composite leaped 401.1 points, or 3.2%, to 12,964.86.
The central bank announced that it was hiking its benchmark interest rate 50 basis points, or 0.5 percentage points. That is the biggest hike since 2000 for the Fed, but the move was widely expected by investors.
Stocks moved sharply higher when Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was not considering a 75-basis-point hike in future meetings.
Investors also appeared to be betting on the Fed’s confidence in the U.S. economy.
Stocks seen as economic bellwethers also performed well, with Home Depot and Caterpillar rising about 3%. Bank stocks also gained ground, with Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase rising more than 2%.
The gains were broad across the board for stocks. Large tech stocks moved higher following the Fed announcements, with Apple and Google-parent Alphabet gaining more than 2% each. Energy giants Exxon and Chevron rose more than 3%.
Corporate earnings reports were leading to notable moves on Wednesday. Lyft plummeted 29% after the ridesharing company shared on Tuesday evening weak guidance for the current quarter as it expects to invest in driver supply. Rival Uber dropped 8%.
On the economic front, the private payrolls report from ADP showed an increase of 247,000 for April, well below the 390,000 Dow Jones estimate. The full Labor department payrolls report for April is due out Friday.
Treasury prices jumped sharply, with yields falling to 2.92% from Tuesday’s 2.98%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices popped $5.56 to $107.97 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices revived $12.90 to $1,883.50 U.S. an ounce.
