thursdays rally marked the best day for broader markets since stocks came up for air in 2020 after facing significant selling pressure on pandemic concerns the indices raced higher thursday morning after october cpi data showed inflation was cooler than expected what to know thursdays cpi inflation reading came a week after the federal reserve raised its benchmark rate by 075 for the fourth straight time as it continues to grapple with high inflation the feds rate increases are expected to eventually slow the economy and pressure consumer spending thursdays data seemed to show that fed policy actions are starting to rattle economic conditions as a result many are now anticipating a fed pivot at the central banks next meeting on dec 14 which acted as the main catalyst for thursdays move historic surge in stocks the nasdaq 100 led the charge higher thursday closing up 749 at 1160596 ninetyeight of the stocks in the nasdaq 100 closed the day in the green the nasdaq composite surged 735 to end the day at 1111415 one of the oldest and bestknown measures of stock market performance the dow jones industrial average is a priceweighted index consisting of 30 stocks the bluechip index closed up more than 1200 points or 37 at 3371537 on thursday the sp 500 rallied 554 to 395637 and the spdr sp 500 spy an etf that tracks the sp 500 index closed up 549 at 39466 whats next the fed will get to see one more cpi print before its final meeting of the year in middecember thursdays coolerthanexpected cpi data suggests the fed could opt for a less aggressive 05 or 025 rate hike next month see also heres what experts are expecting from the fed next month