Thursday turned into a solid rally day for Wall Street after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady as widely expected and Chair Jerome Powell struck a carefully balanced tone — acknowledging progress on inflation while stopping well short of committing to any near-term cuts. Markets liked what they heard. The S&P 500 climbed 0.87%, the Nasdaq added 1.21%, and even the more defensive Dow tagged along with a 0.54% gain.
Tech was the clear engine of the day's move. Nvidia led the large-cap charge, surging 4.6% after a wave of bullish analyst commentary tied to its upcoming GPU showcase. The AI trade, which had cooled somewhat in recent weeks, found a fresh pulse Thursday as chipmakers and cloud infrastructure names broadly participated in the rally. Meta and Microsoft both added over 1.5% on the session.
On the losing side, CVS Health was the day's most notable casualty, dropping 5.3% after the company cut its 2026 profit outlook. Management pointed to persistently high medical utilization rates in its Aetna insurance arm — a theme that has rattled managed care stocks throughout the year.
Meanwhile, gold eased slightly to $2,341 an ounce as risk appetite improved, while oil held near $79.60 a barrel. The VIX dipped to 18.4, signaling that investors, at least for one day, chose confidence over caution.