U.S. stocks close | Powell downplays rate hike by 0.75%, Dow soars 932 points, Nasdaq jumps more than 3%

The US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.5% in line with expectations, and the monthly balance sheet reduction in the next three months was lower than expected. In addition, Powell said that he has not actively considered raising interest rates by 0.75%, and the three major US stock indexes rose sharply.

The Dow fell about 100 points before rebounding nearly 1,000 points, while the S&P and Nasdaq both surged about 3%.

The Fed will begin shrinking its balance sheet in June to as much as $30 billion a month in Treasuries and $17.5 billion in mortgage-backed securities through August, below expectations for a total of $95 billion.

Powell also "released the pigeon" at the press conference, saying that he believes that the U.S. economy has a good chance of "soft landing", which will not cause a recession while controlling inflation, and downplayed the chance of raising interest rates by 0.75% in the future.

U.S. interest rate hike | The Fed raises interest rates by 0.5% in line with market expectations that the balance sheet will shrink by $47.5 billion in June

The Dow Jones index closed at 34,061 points, up 932 points or 2.81%; the S&P 500 closed at 4,300 points, up 124 points or 2.99%; the Nasdaq index closed at 12,964 points, up 401 points or 3.19%.

A number of technology stocks rose sharply. Apple rose 4.1%, Microsoft rose 2.91%, Tesla rose 4.77%, NVIDIA rose 3.73%, Amazon rose 1.35%, and Alphabet rose 4.2%.

Meta rose 5.7%.

Companies seen as economic bellwethers also posted notable gains, with Caterpillar up 4.2 percent and Home Depot up 3.39 percent.

A number of bank stocks also rebounded, with Morgan Stanley up 3.31% and Citigroup up 4.25%.

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