U.S. stocks mostly extended their large post-election rally on Thursday, with all three major indexes touching record highs during the session after the Federal safety net trimmed earnings rates.

The Fed lowered its short-term, point of reference fed funds rate by a quarter-percentage point to between 4.5% to 4.75%, down from a 23-year high of 5.25% to 5.5% just a couple of months ago. It was the second straight cut and off the heels of a jumbo half-point cut the last period the Fed met in September.

The blue-chip Dow closed flat at 43,729.34, but the broad Standard & impoverished’s 500 ended at a record high 5,973.10, up 0.74%. The tech-laden Nasdaq finished up 1.51% at a record 19.269.46.

The 10-year Treasury profit spiked on Wednesday, a bump some economists attributed to worries President-elect Donald Trump would run up the deficit and implement sweeping tariffs that would reignite expense boost. But it fell after the Fed’s rate announcement. The profit was last down 0.091% on Thursday to 4.335%.

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Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the Fed was “feeling excellent” about the economy and suggested more tiny rate cuts were ahead but the pace remains data dependent.

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“They (the Fed) acknowledge that policy remains restrictive and that further cuts are likely but that the pace of those cuts may leisurely,” wrote James Knightley, chief international economist at Dutch lender ING. “They were reluctant to discuss the ‘Trump result’, but here’s the uncertainty: slightly firmer growth with more inflationary pressures. And that might navigator to a less aggressive rate-cut narrative.”

Trump has promised to enact sweeping tariffs and levy cuts, which some economists declare could unleash expense boost again.

Economists, so far, are split on whether the Fed will pause rate cuts at its next and final conference of the year in December or squeeze in another quarter-point cut before a feasible pause.

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Post-trade profits reports

In between the major information this week that included the election on Tuesday and Thursday’s Fed conference, companies continued to update profits.

Some highlights after the trade closed include:

• Pinterest: Topped third-quarter turnover and profits estimates but provided a frail fourth-quarter turnover outlook.
• Rivian: Missed third-quarter estimates and lowered its packed-year profits outlook.
• Airbnb: Just topped third-quarter sales estimaes but missed with its profits.

Medora Lee is a money, markets, and money management reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected] and  subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for money management tips and business information every Monday through Friday morning.