Dow Jones surges over 600 pts to record high; Apple powers 500-point jump in Nasdaq | US Stock Market Update

The Dow Jones Industrial Average index surged more than 600 points to a record high in the first half of the session on Wall Street on Thursday, a day after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announced a better-than-expected cut of 50 basis points (bps)—or half a percentage point—in the US benchmark interest rates. With that, the Dow—one of the three equity benchmarks for Wall Street besides S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite—more than recovered the previous day's fall of 0.3 per cent. 

All three main gauges scaled unprecedented levels, with the Dow crossing the 42,100 mark for the first time ever. 

At 9:01 pm in India (12.01 pm in the US), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was left with a gain of 428.7 points, or 1.0 per cent, for the day at 41,931.8, the S&P 500 was up 100 points, or 1.8 per cent, at 5,718.3, and the technology stocks-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 482.3 points, or 2.7 per cent, at 18,055.6. 

A majority of stocks in the 30-scrip Dow Jones index enjoyed gains at the time, with Salesforce (up 5.8 per cent), Caterpillar (up 4.2 per cent), Apple (up 3.8 per cent), Goldman Sachs (up 3.2 per cent) and Intel (up 2.8 per cent) rising the most among the 19 gainers. On the other hand, P&G (down 1.7 per cent), IBM (down 1.5 per cent) and Coca-Cola (down 1.4 per cent) were the top losers.

Top Dow Gainers

Top Dow Losers

ALSO READ: Fed surprises economists with better-than-expected 50 bps rate cut; what next?

Wednesday's rate cut in the world's largest economy was the first such move by the US central bank in more than four years, and came at a time when investors around the globe keenly looked out for the onset of an impending easing of borrowing costs. Lowering the funds range, the benchmark lending rate, by half a percentage point, the Fed Chair exuded confidence that inflation will keep receding to its annual goal of 2 per cent.

The US labour market is "still at very solid levels" with no sign of a recession and with solid growth and lower inflation, said Powell, also mentioning that the Fed might have started lowering rates sooner driven by a surprisingly weak July jobs report if it had noticed that data earlier.

EDITOR'S TAKE | Here's what market wizard Anil Singhvi makes of the Fed action 

Zee Business Managing Editor Anil Singhvi believes that one can expect the US central bank to deliver another 50 bps of reduction in 2024 followed by 100 bps in 2025 and then another 50 bps in 2026.

The US central bank has given clear signals about more rate cuts in the future amid signs of strength in the world's largest economy and no fear of a recession, the market guru highlighted on Thursday morning. Read more on how market wizard Anil Singhvi views the 50-bp Fed rate cut

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