Stock market news today: Stocks rally as investors bet on end to Fed hikes

Stocks soared on Thursday as investors bet the Federal Reserve is close to wrapping up its rate-hiking campaign and assessed a fresh stream of corporate results. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose about 1.5% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained roughly 1.2%, or 400 points. All three major gauges closed Wednesday with strong gains after the Fed held interest rates steady at their highest range in 22 years. The market’s overall takeaway from Chair Jerome Powell’s comments on the decision is that the US central bank will stick with keeping rates unchanged in December….