U.S. stock indexes sailed higher in the wake of their global counterparts and the dollar wobbled on Thursday after the Federal Reserve started a long-awaited interest rate cutting cycle with a chunky half-point move.

The Federal Reserve's closely followed overnight reverse-repo facility already has begun to reflect Wednesday's big interest-rate cut. Wall Street firms rushed to park extra cash overnight at the facility in the wake of the pandemic,

Wall Street is holding near its records after the Federal Reserve kicked off its efforts to prevent a recession with a bigger-than-usual cut to interest rates.

U.S. stock indexes remained stuck in place as Wall Street waited for the Federal Reserve to make its first interest rate cut in more than four years.

Let's get the basics out of the way: the Fed will announce its latest interest-rate decision at 2 p.m. Eastern, alongside the latest summary of economic projections (i.e., the dot plot). That will be followed by a press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell at 2:30 p.m.

Markets on Wall Street were positioned to open at record highs Thursday after the Federal Reserve issued a bigger-than-usual interest rate cut intended to fortify a cooling labor market and prevent a recession.

Wall Street surged with the S&P 500 reaching an intraday record high after the Federal Reserve's rate cut decision. Tech stocks led the gains, with major companies like Microsoft, Tesla, and Apple surging.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell announced a half percent cut to benchmark interest rates on Wednesday — the first cut since March 2020. While a half percent cut is considered large, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren wanted more.

Fed chief Powell says the move will shore up the labor market while it's strong. Stocks closed down with traders looking for even more aggressive cuts this year.