Stock market news today: Stocks soar after Powell signals 50 bp rate hike – Markets Insider

US stocks soared on Wednesday, led by the Nasdaq Composite, which was up as much as 4% after Federal Reserve Chairman struck a dovish tone in a speech to the Brookings Institution.
The other major indexes also spiked on the Fed chief’s comments. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 737 points and the S&P 500 ended up more than 3%. 
In his remarks, Powell said there are signs inflation is beginning to finally ease, and that it makes sense for the Fed to slow down its interest rate hikes as soon as December. 
“The time for moderating the pace of rate increases may come as soon as the December meeting,” Powell said, though he did hedge his comments by saying there is still work to be done in terms of taming inflation. 
But Fundstrat’s Tom Lee believes Wednesday’s speech from Powell could mark a shift going forward that leads to a less hawkish Fed. “It is entirely possible the December hike of 50 basis points could be the last hike,” Lee told clients in a Wednesday note.
Here’s where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Wednesday:
Here’s what else happened today:
In commodities, bonds and crypto:
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