The Dow Jones index gained 0.80%, the tech-dominated Nasdaq, 1.75% and the S&P 500 index 1.11% around 14:30 GMT.

The day before, after the announcement of a new rate hike of a quarter of a percentage point, the Dow Jones index had ended down 1.63% to 32,030.11 points, the Nasdaq had dropped 1.60% to 11,669.96 points and the S&P 500 had fallen by 1.65% to 3,936.97 points.

The Fed raised interest rates by only a quarter of a percentage point and, importantly, signaled that it was considering only one more such hike in the near term, which seemed to calm markets on Thursday.

Wall Street's reaction was initially ambivalent as Fed chief Jerome Powell pointed out that the recent banking crisis had tightened financial conditions and acted as another rate hike, if not more.

"Such a tightening of financial conditions is in line with a tightening of rates. You can think of it as the equivalent of a rate hike or maybe more than that," Powell said at his news conference.

After the Federal Reserve, the Swiss National Bank announced a rate hike of 50 basis points to 1.50%, as expected, and claimed that the country's banking crisis was over. The Bank of England (BoE) also raised its key rate on Thursday for the 11th consecutive time (+0.25 points to 4.25%).

Investors were also disappointed Wednesday by comments from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Before the US Senate, Yellen said there were no plans to significantly increase bank deposit coverage, currently limited to $250,000, as was done when two regional banks, including Silicon Valley Bank, went bankrupt.

On Thursday, an indicator of jobs gave the market a good mood with weekly applications for unemployment benefits that remain well below 200,000, at 191,000, contrary to expectations.

This shows that the job market remains buoyant despite announcements of layoffs in the technology sector.

As for the real estate market, sales of new homes rose slightly in February to 640,000 at an annual rate. However, they remain down 19% over one year.

Nine sectors out of the eleven of the S&P 500 were clearly in the green, led by communication (+1.95%) and information technology (+1.75%).

Thus, the big names in tech, such as Meta, Google, Microsoft advanced from 2% to 3%.

Jack Dorsey's group, Block (formerly Square) fell 17.34%, attacked by the investment fund Hindenburg Research. In a document released Thursday, Hindenburg argues that Block has "misled investors by publishing overvalued data" regarding the number of its users.

Co-founded in 2009 by co-creator and former Twitter boss Jack Dorsey, Block, which owns the Cash App application, is dedicated to financial transactions, ranging from payment at merchants to payments between individuals.

The cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase tumbled almost 16% as it is threatened with prosecution by the policeman of the Exchange, the SEC, for violation of the securities law.

In the bond market, yields on ten-year Treasuries tended very slightly to 3.46% against 3.43% on Wednesday.

© 2023 AFP