Wall Street took back everything the Federal Reserve cost it. One day after the central bank raised interest rates for the first time since 2023, US stocks rallied sharply on Thursday, erasing the losses of the prior two sessions as a retreat in crude oil pulled Treasury yields down with it.
The S&P 500 closed at 7,635.77, up 90.69 points, or 1.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 322.95 points, or 0.63%, to finish at 51,781.28 — recovering roughly half of Wednesday's 631-point drubbing. The Nasdaq 100 led the advance, climbing 501.92 points, or 1.73%, to 29,456.98.
Oil Did the Heavy Lifting
The catalyst was not the Fed. It was Saudi Arabia.
Brent crude slid for a second straight session on reports that the kingdom is moving to restore the East-West pipeline damaged in drone attacks last week. Saudi Aramco is working to bypass the damaged section, aiming to bring back roughly half of the line's capacity within days and return it to full operation in about six weeks. The Trump administration publicly sought to reassure the market that the restart is imminent.
Riyadh is also making additional crude cargoes available to Asian refiners through ship-to-ship transfers just outside the Strait of Hormuz, near Oman's Sohar port.
Brent traded 2.6% lower at $103.05 a barrel, according to CNBC. Fortune's reading at 8 a.m. ET put the benchmark at $103.98 — $4.36, or about 4%, below where it sat the previous morning. For a market that has spent September pricing energy costs straight into its inflation forecasts, that was the news that mattered.
Yields Slip Back Under 5%
The oil move flowed directly into the bond market. The 10-year Treasury yield eased roughly nine basis points to 4.94%, according to Trading Economics, retreating below the 5% line it had crossed on Tuesday for the first time since July 2007.
That threshold has become the market's psychological tripwire. Barclays strategists have warned that "the approaching 5% threshold in 10Y yields marks a historically important inflection point, beyond which rates have typically become a more persistent headwind for equities."
Thursday bought some room below it — but not much.
Chips Lead, Intel Surges
Semiconductors drove the gains. Intel, AMD, Marvell, Seagate and Lam Research each rose about 4%, with Intel the standout at roughly 9% on a report that it plans another price increase on PC CPUs and on a run of analyst upgrades, including a Tigress price target of $145 and a move to Outperform at Northland with a $120 target. Qualcomm gained 2%. Among megacaps, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon each climbed close to 2%.
The Fed Backdrop Hasn't Changed
None of Thursday's rally alters what the Fed did on Wednesday. The FOMC voted unanimously, 12-0, to lift the overnight funds rate a quarter point to a 3.75%-4% target range, and 16 of its 18 policymakers signaled another increase before the year ends. Chair Kevin Warsh used his press conference to underline persistent inflation risk.
Precious metals stayed largely unmoved by the decision. December gold futures opened at $4,301.40 an ounce, down 2% from Wednesday's settlement, before recovering to $4,354.60 by 6:53 a.m. ET. Silver futures opened at $63.42, down 2.3%, and climbed back to $64.57 by 7:10 a.m. ET.
Equities got their relief day. Whether it survives the next print on energy prices is another question.
Sources: CNBC ("Stocks rise, lifted by falling oil and yields as market attempts comeback after Fed sell-off"; "Oil prices fall as Saudi Arabia reportedly offers more crude via Hormuz after pipeline attack"), Trading Economics (US 500, US 10-Year Note Bond Yield, Brent Crude Oil), Fortune ("Current price of oil as of Sept. 17, 2026"), Yahoo Finance ("Gold price today, Thursday, September 17, 2026"; "Silver price today, Thursday, September 17, 2026").