Wall Street's main indexes soared on Thursday with the S&P 500 and the Dow hitting intraday record highs after the Federal Reserve kicked off its monetary easing cycle with half-a-percentage point reduction and forecast more interest rate cuts were on the horizon.

Markets on Wall Street were positioned to open at record highs Thursday after the Federal Reserve issued a bigger-than-usual interest rate cut intended to fortify a cooling labor market and prevent a recession.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell announced a half percent cut to benchmark interest rates on Wednesday — the first cut since March 2020. While a half percent cut is considered large, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren wanted more.