ALBAWABA – A Wall Street rally, after the United States (US) Federal Reserve pinned US interest rates and signalled multiple cuts in 2024, drove the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 to record highs late Wednesday.
The S&P 500 advanced 1.4 percent on Wednesday, to a two-year high, at 4,707.09, as the Dow Jones hit broke over 37,000, setting a new all-time high, according to Bloomberg.
The percentage of members in the gauge now trading above their 50-day moving averages stands at roughly 89 percent, the most since July.
Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 index of small caps surged more than 3.5 percent, the most in a month, Bloomberg reported, while Latin American equities gained the most since early August.
The Fed pinned US interest rates at their current 5.25-5.5 percent levels and said up to 0.75 percent will be shaved off the current rates by end of 2024.
Every group-of-10 currency advanced versus the US dollar on Wednesday too, Agence France-Presse (AFP), Bloomberg and Reuters reported, with the gains continuing in Asia on Thursday.
Wall Street rally drives Dow Jones, S&P 500 to record highs - Shutterstock
The Hungarian forint and South African rand — currencies often seen as proxies for risk appetite in emerging markets — surged, Bloomberg reported.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Dow Jones, or simply the Dow, is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the US. It is one of the oldest equity indexes.
Along with the S&P 500, the Dow is one of the most commonly followed equity indices.
The Standard and Poor's 500, or S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 of the largest companies listed on stock exchanges in the US.
Overall, the Dow leans heavily toward what the stocks with the highest share prices and how they are doing, while the S&P 500 tends to more closely follow the entire market.
Combined, they – among other stock market indexes – offer an indicators as to the state of the US financial market and the state of the micro-economy.
