S&P 500 and Nasdaq surge ahead of New Zealand dollar

The company had its best day in more than a decade.

The Standard and Poor's 500 had its best day in five months. The Dow Jones industrials fell mainly due to Merck, the pharmaceutial giant that revised its outlook down.

The investors are looking beyond the specter of the Federal Reserve raising rates. They see an end to the suffering of rate hikes and are realizing that so many stocks were oversold last year, according to Peter Andersen, founder of Andersen Capital Management.

The Standard and Poor's 500 galloped up 60.55 points or 1.47 percent to 4,179, up 60.55 points or 1.47 percent. The Dow Jones industrials fell 39.02 points or 0.11 percent to 34,053. The Nasdaq Composite climbed a hefty 384.50 points or 3.25 percent to close Thursday at 12,200. Meta Platforms, Inc., settled $35.65 or 23.28 percent higher at $188.77. Merck Co. Inc. closed $3.55 or 3.32 percent lower at $103.43.

The U.S. dollar gained ground Thursday as bond yields slowed.

The euro fell to 1.0912 near the U.S. close Thursday. The British pound fell to 1.2240. The Japanese yen was little changed at 128.69. The Swiss franc fell to 0.9133.

The Canadian dollar fell to 1.3318. The Australian dollar was down to 0.7082. The New Zealand dollar was steady at 0.6478.

Germany's Dax surged 2.16 percent on overseas equity markets. The CACX 40 of Paruis added 1.26 percent. The FTSE 100 in London rose by 0.76 percent.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong retreated 0.52 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.20 percent. China's Shanghai Composite went up 0.75 of a single point or 0.02 percent.

The Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.41 percent. The Australian All Ordinaries rose by 0.24 percent. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite was up 0.41 percent.

In New Zealand, the S&P NZX 50 climbed by 0.51 percent. The Kospi Composite in Seoul, South Korea was down 0.78 percent.