Stock market today: US stocks extend records on rate-cut optimism

• Stocks rallied on Thursday with the Dow and the S&P 500 extending record highs. 
• The Fed kept rates unchanged and signed three cuts coming in 2024. 
• Reddit soared in its first day of trading, closing 48% higher. 

US stocks surged on Thursday to fresh records, continuing the momentum in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy update. 

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average claimed fresh record highs, with the Dow spiking by 269 points. 

The jumps add to gains that followed Jerome Powell’s press conference on Wednesday, in which he said the central bank remains committed to its 2% inflation target, and that policymakers will monitor incoming data closely before its next moves.

According to the dot plot of interest rate projections for the coming years, officials still expect three rate cuts in 2024.

CME’s FedWatch Tool shows traders have ramped up bets for a June rate cut over the last 24 hours, with odds for easing to start in June jumping from 55% to almost 70%. 

“If we’re returning to a more normal monetary policy environment in an economy that can produce sustainable growth and not fold under inflationary pressures, perhaps higher rates are the appropriate longer-term approach,” Liz Young, the head of investment strategy at SoFi, wrote in a note after the Fed meeting.

Meanwhile, Reddit made its public trading debut on Thursday with as much as a 70% rally before paring gains to close 47% higher at $50.31 a share. 

Some Redditors on the site had expressed disinterest in participating in the IPO, which had been offered to some of the platform’s top users. 

Apple shares tumbled 4% as the US Department of Justice unveiled a lawsuit that says the company engages in anticompetitive practices in the smartphone market. The stock closed at $171.37, down by about 11% year-to-date. 

Here’s where US indexes stood as the market closed at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday: 

• S&P 500: 5,241.53, up 0.32%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 39,781.50, up 0.68% (+269.37 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 16,401.84, up 0.2% 

Here’s what else is going on: 

• The EU is pushing for Ukraine to see profits from frozen Russian assets as soon as July.
• Sam Bankman-Fried is living a “life of delusion” by claiming he didn’t steal, the new FTX boss said.
• America’s growing wealth points to a boom in a tax-exempt corner of the bond market.
• Wall Street bull SocGen said the S&P 500 will rally another 5% in 2024.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto: 

• Oil prices dipped, with West Texas Intermediate down 0.27% to $81.05 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, moved lower 0.26% to $85.72 a barrel.
• Gold climbed 1% to $2,183 per ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield was flat at 4.271%.
• Bitcoin slid 0.75% to $65,155.