How major US stock indexes fared Thursday, 3/7/2024

abcnews.go.com:

Stocks rose to another record, with easier interest rates beckoning on the horizon

Stocks rose to another record, with easier interest rates beckoning on the horizon. The S&P 500 climbed 1% Thursday, beating the all-time high it set last week.

The Dow added 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.5%. Treasury yields eased after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said it’s not far from delivering the cuts to interest rates that Wall Street craves.

Powell reaffirmed the Fed’s position that cuts may start this year if inflation continues cooling. Traders are also trying to guess when the European Central Bank will cut rates after it left them alone Thursday.

On Thursday:

The S&P 500 rose 52.60 points, or 1%, to 5,157.36.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 130.30 points, or 0.3%, to 38,791.35.

The Nasdaq composite rose 241.83 points, or 1.5%, to 16,273.38.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 16.65 points, or 0.8%, to 2,084.74.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is up 20.28 points, or 0.4%.

The Dow is down 296.03 points, or 0.8%.

The Nasdaq is down 1.57 points, or less than 0.1%.

The Russell 2000 is up 8.35 points, or 0.4%.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is up 387.53 points, or 8.1%.

The Dow is up 1,101.81 points, or 2.9%.

The Nasdaq is up 1,262.02 points, or 8.4%.

The Russell 2000 is up 57.67 points, or 2.8%.

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