US stocks surge as falling crude, easing bond yields boost sentiment, Nasdaq gains over 1.6%

United States benchmarks stock indices surged on Thursday as falling crude oil prices and easing bond yields provided relief to investor sentiment which was shaken by a selloff in the previous session after US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates for the first time in three years.

Tech heavy Nasdaq index surged 1.66% to 26,411, S&P 500 index advanced 1.08% and Dow Jones Industrial Average index gained 0.64%.

Crude oil prices dropped to over one-week low as reports of additional Saudi crude cargoes through Oman eased supply ‌concerns, though prices stayed above $100 a barrel on fears the Middle East conflict could widen.

Brent crude futures dropped as much as 4.05% to $101.54 per barrel.

Sentiment further got a boost after yield on the 10-year US bond dropped below 5% after US Federal Reserve, after its two-day monetary policy meeting, decided to raise the key benchmark interest rates for the US economy, for the first rate hike in more than three years, by 25 basis points (bps) to the range of 3.75% to 4.00%, as per the official announcement.

The US 10 Year Treasury Note Yield declined to 4.94% from 5% in the previous session.

US Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), in its outcome after the September meeting, announced that the central bank has unanimously approved the rate hike move for the US economy, citing the solid expansion pace of economic activity in America.

Intel was top gainer in the Nasdaq index, the stock rose for a second straight session and rose 8.3% to $109 after Reuters reported that it was in talks with SK Hynix to manufacture its memory chips in the US for the first time.

Arm Holdings, Rocket Lab Corporation, Micron Technology, Strategy, Workday and Marvell Technology also rose between 4.8%-7%.

On the flip side, CoreWeave, Axon Enterprises, Copart, T-Mobile, Comcast, AppLovin and IDEXX Labs were top losers in the Nasdaq index.