The rally was a delayed yet emphatic response to the central bank’s decision Wednesday to cut interest rates by a half percentage point that pushed the S&P 500 to its first reco

Stocks jumped Thursday morning as investors cheered the Federal Reserve’s eye-popping half-point interest rate cut.

The S&P 500 will remain in focus on Thursday after the index closed slightly lower following the Federal Reserve’s decision to slash its benchmark rate by 50 basis points. Monitor these important chart levels.

The biggest gains, however, tend to come after the Fed begins cutting rates following a stock market panic. Following the first Fed rate cut in March 2020 due to the COVID pandemic, the S&P 500 was up over 27% in the next 12 months. Meanwhile, following the rate cut after the Sept. 11, 2001, market crash, the S&P was nearly 21% higher a year later.

SolarEdge Technologies is down 5% after shares of the solar-power-equipment maker were downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies and the price target cut to $17 from $27. S&P 500 futures are up 0.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are adding 0.2%.

Asian markets have forged higher after the Federal Reserve kicked off its efforts to prevent a recession in the U.S. with a bigger-than-usual cut to interest rates

Markets on Wall Street were positioned to open at record highs Thursday after the Federal Reserve issued a bigger-than-usual interest rate cut intended to fortify a cooling labor market and prevent a

The S&P 500 surged to a record high close on Thursday, the day after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 50 basis points and indicated more rate cuts were on the horizon. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average also registered a record closing high,

The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 surged to all-time highs in the wake of the Federal Reserve's announcement that it was lowering interest rates by half a percentage point.