Stocks ended higher on Wall Street after seesaw trading Thursday and are now on pace for a weekly gain. The Dow rose 193 points to 31,774, the S&P 500 rose 26 points to 4,006, and the Nasdaq rose 70 points to 11,862. All three gains were about 0.6%. Health care stocks fared particularly well on Thursday: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, for example, surged 18.8% after the company and partner Bayer reported encouraging study data on an anti-blindness drug. Banks also helped lift the market, with JPMorgan Chase up 2.2%. Big technology and communications stocks were among the biggest losers, per the AP. Apple fell 1.5% and Google's parent company fell 1.4%.
Interest rates policies were in sharp focus for investors as the European Central Bank made its largest-ever rate increase, in line with moves from the Fed and other central banks to fight inflation. The bank’s 25-member governing council raised its key benchmark by three-quarters of a percentage point Thursday. Meanwhile Fed Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed the Fed’s commitment to keep rates high “until the job is done” in getting back down to its 2% goal. “There is a record of failed attempts to get inflation under control, which only raises the ultimate costs to society,” he said during a conference on monetary policy by the Cato Institute, a think tank that promotes libertarian ideas.
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