US stocks close with major gains, recovering from Fed signal

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US stock exchanges closed with major gains Thursday, recovering from the Federal Reserve signaling the day before that an interest rate cut in March is unlikely.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 369 points, or 0.97%, to finish at 38,519. The S&P 500 jumped 60 points, or 1.25%, to 4,906.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq, meanwhile, soared 197 points, or 1.3%, to 15,361.

The Fed on Wednesday kept its federal funds rate unchanged, as expected, in the 5.25%-5.5% target range – the highest level in 23 years.

Chair Jerome Powell, in his post-meeting press conference, said inflation is still too high, the ongoing progress to bring it down is not assured and the path forward remains uncertain.

"If we saw inflation being stickier or higher, (that) would argue for moving later," he said, adding that "if inflation were to surprise by moving back up, we would have to respond to that."

The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, fell 3.3% to 13.88. The 10-year US Treasury yield shed 2.3% to 3.872%.

The dollar index decreased 0.2% to 103.08, while the euro jumped 0.5% to $1.0873 against the greenback.

Precious metals were on the rise, with gold adding 0.7% to $2,054 per ounce and silver increasing 1% to $23.18.

Oil prices were down more than 2%, with global benchmark Brent crude losing 2.1% to $78.88 per barrel and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude falling 2.5% to $73.94.