Stocks climb, U

Stocks climb, U.S. yields fall on central bank pause hopes

A gauge of global stocks rallied and U.S. Treasury yields mostly fell on Thursday, as policy announcements from a string of central banks fueled optimism that interest rate hike cycles may be nearing an end.After the U.S. Federal Reserve raised rates by 25 basis points (bps), as was widely expected, on Wednesday, markets rallied following comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledging the “disinflationary” process may have begun.

The European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England (BoE) hiked by 50 basis points each on Thursday, with the BoE signaling the tide was turning against inflation and the ECB indicating at least one more hike was on the horizon.On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq climbed, with the S&P 500 touching its highest intraday level since Aug. 26 and the Nasdaq hitting its highest since Sept. 12, getting an additional boost from a 24.24% surge in Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc following its quarterly results and $40 billion buyback announcment.

After the closing bell, investors will see earnings from heavyweights Apple Inc and Amazon.com IncEuropean stocks rallied, with the STOXX 600 poised for its biggest one-day percentage gain in a month after hitting its highest intraday level since late April.The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 1.37% and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 1.21%.Benchmark 10-year notes were down 4 basis points to 3.358%, from 3.398% late on Wednesday.

The dollar bounced, however, from its biggest one-day percentage drop in nearly a month on Wednesday, while the euro also weakened following the ECB announcement.The dollar index rose 0.594%, with the euro down 0.59% to $1.0924.The Japanese yen strengthened 0.44% versus the greenback at 128.39 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2269, down 0.86% on the day.In commodities, oil prices slipped, with U.S. crude recently falling 0.69% to $75.88 per barrel and Brent at $82.23, down 0.74% on the day.