Wall Street romped to records Thursday as a delayed jubilation swept markets worldwide following the Federal Reserve’s big cut to interest rates. The S&P 500 jumped 1.7% for one of its best days of the year and topped its last all-time high set in July.

Indexes rose Thursday as investors digested Wednesday's jumbo rate cut from the Fed and a fall in weekly jobless claims.

The latest batch of quarterly forecasts from the Federal Reserve showed policy makers have had a change of heart since June about the pace of interest rate cuts in 2024. The latest iteration of the Fed's "dot plot" penciled in two more quarter-point cuts before the end of the year,

Good news for those building up their 401(k)s: the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 closed at record highs after the Fed's rate cuts.

U.S. stocks rose after the Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rates by 50 basis points to a range of 4.75% to 5%. That was the first rate cut in over four years that marked the beginning of a monetary-easing cycle in the world's largest economy.

The blue chip index closed above the psychologically significant 42,000 level for the first time ever Thursday.

Asian markets have forged higher after the Federal Reserve kicked off its efforts to prevent a recession in the U.S. with a bigger-than-usual cut to interest rates