Bulls Cheer as Fed's Capitulation to Markets Reaches Climax
- S&P 500 jumps as much as 1.9 percent as Powell turns patient
- Emerging markets extend gains to highest since early October
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A stock-market spring-loaded for earnings season is now pushing toward its biggest January rally in three decades after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell sent another care package to investors bruised in last year’s market tumult.
The S&P 500 jumped as much as 1.9 percent, its first gain on the day of a Fed decision since Powell took office and its biggest increase for such a session since 2014. The sense of relief among investors was on display across markets worldwide, with developing-nation equities hitting the highest level in almost four months, Europe’s Stoxx 600 advancing a third-straight day and almost every major currency gaining versus the dollar.