The technology-dominated Nasdaq jumped 2.10%, the S&P 500 index gained 0.73%, the Dow Jones remained down (-0.68%) around 3:00 p.m. GMT.
On Wednesday, the indices had finished in the green after a modest increase in interest rates by the US central bank, or a quarter of a percentage point.
The Nasdaq had climbed by 2.00% to 11,816.32 points and the S&P 500 by 1.05% to 4,119.21 points while the Dow Jones had returned to stability (+0.02% to 34,092.96 points) .
This moderation in the rise in rates was "expected".
"As for what's next, there was something for doves and hawks alike" during Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's press conference, said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management.
"The process of disinflation has begun," Powell said, adding that while "recent data is encouraging, more evidence is needed that inflation is slowing sustainably."
"Overall, the Fed is not done with rate hikes yet, but it is at the beginning of the end of its tightening cycle," concluded Art Hogan.
The European Central Bank and the Bank of England followed up Thursday with rate hikes of half a percentage point.
On the business results side, the market was preparing to digest, after the market closed, the figures of the big tech companies, from Alphabet, the parent company of Google, which climbed 5.60% at 3:00 p.m. GMT to Apple (+2.22%) and Amazon (+4.26%).
Also on the program were the accounts of the car manufacturer Ford (+2.65%) and Starbucks (+0.29%).
But the locomotive of the market was the Meta share which soared by more than 19% while the leader of the social networks Facebook announced a fall in its income in 2002 (the first in its history) less severe, however, than expected. the analysts.
Meta's annual revenue, which stands at $116.61 billion, fell 1%, but the number of daily Facebook users rose to 2 billion.
Industrial conglomerate Honeywell, a member of the Dow Jones, fell 2.22%.
The group announced Thursday disappointing quarterly and annual results, having suffered the impact of the cessation of its activities in Russia and unfavorable exchange rates.
Full-year profit was $5 billion, up from $5.5 billion in 2021.
The titles of Merck laboratories also fell (-2.27%) despite better than expected quarterly results thanks in particular to sales of its cancer drug Keytruda (+ 19%) offsetting the decline in its anti-Covid treatment molnupiravir.
Investors were paying attention to poorer sales forecasts in 2023 for this treatment.
The electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian climbed 4.31% after announcing a 6% reduction in its workforce, i.e. the layoff of 840 employees.
Cuts in personnel and operating costs also served FedEx, whose stock rose 4.74%.
The express carrier, which experienced a drop in the volume of activity at the end of the year, will reduce the number of its management positions by 10%.
On the bond market, rates on ten-year Treasury bills, already down the day before after the Fed meeting, eased significantly to 3.36% against 3.41% the day before.
© 2023 AFP