Investing.com -- The Dow closed sharply higher Thursday, buoyed by a slump in Treasury yields ahead of the monthly jobs report due Friday following bets that the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates.
At 14:32 ET (20:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 564 points or 1.7%, while the S&P 500 was up 1.9% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 1.8%.
The main indices on Wall Street closed substantially higher Wednesday, with the blue chip Dow gaining 220 points, or 0.7%, the broad-based S&P rose 1.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 1.6%.
Bets on end of Fed rate hikes gather momentum, pushing Treasury yields lower
This positive tone followed the conclusion of the latest policy-setting meeting by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which resulted in the central bank holding interest rates steady, as widely expected.
Fed chairman Powell "kept the door open for a rate hike in December and beyond, noting that the Committee is not confident they have achieved a 'sufficiently restrictive' stance, Deutsche Bank said in a note. But on the dovish side, Powell "did not sound perturbed by recent data strength, likely reflecting concerns around tighter FCIs and a desire to see more data to determine if these trends are sustained," it added.
The unchanged decision arrived despite the recent uptick in the economy, stoking hopes that the Fed isn't likely to hike rates again. Treasury yields added to losses from a day earlier, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling 12.3 basis points to 4.666%.
Starbucks steams ahead after impressive earnings, but Moderna sinks as weaker Covid demand dents earnings
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) rallied more than 9% after the coffee chain reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines, underpinned by growth in its key China market.
Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA), meanwhile, reported wider than expected loss in the third quarter as waning demand for its Covid vaccine led to $3.1B hit from unused vaccines, sending its shares 6% lower.
Palantir earnings show AI boost, Roku , PayPal ride earnings beat higher
Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) delivered stronger than expected full-year guidance after reporting better-than-expected Q3 results as demand for its artificial intelligence products continued to gather momentum. Its shares ended 20% higher.
Palantir now expects to generate $599M and $603M of revenue in Q4, or $601M at the midpoint, topping Wall Street estimates of $600.5M.
Roku Inc (NASDAQ:ROKU) and PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL), meanwhile, rose more than 30% and 6% respectively after delivering quarterly better-than-expected quarterly results.
"Roku has shown resilience by expanding some of its key platform sub-segments, diversifying its advertising product offering, and launching new advertising products," Wedbush said in note.
Oil gains after Fed stays steady
Oil prices rebounded Thursday, snapping a three-day decline, after the Fed kept interest rates on hold, hitting the dollar and helping risk appetite return to financial markets.
Markets largely traded past U.S. inventory data, with official data from the Energy Information Administration showing a slightly smaller-than-expected build in oil inventories over the week to October 27.
Distillate inventories saw a smaller-than-expected decline, while gasoline inventories saw an unexpected limited build.
Monthly jobs report in focus
The nonfarm payrolls report is expected to show the economy created 188,000 jobs in October, well below the 336,000 job gains in September.
Slowing job gains, which will ease pressure on wages and inflation are expected to add to bets that the Fed isn't likely to raise rates again.
(Liz Moyer, Peter Nurse and Oliver Gray contributed to this story.)