U.S. stocks rallied to records Wednesday after the Federal Reserve indicated it's likely to deliver the cuts to interest rates this year that Wall Street craves, despite some reports of discouragingly high inflation. The S&P 500 jumped 46.11 points, or 0.9%, to 5,224.62 and set an all-time high for a second straight day. It's already run up 9.5% so far in this young year, which is a bit better than the average for a full year over the last two decades.
“In the meantime, the economy is strong, the labor market is strong, inflation has come way down, and that gives us the ability to approach this question carefully.” Fed officials upgraded their forecasts for the U.S. economy’s growth this year, while also indicating they may end up keeping its main interest rate higher in 2025 and 2026 than earlier thought.