Stocks end sharply higher, S&P 500 scores longest win streak since 2021

U.S. stocks booked big gains on Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve skipped a June rate hike, but indicated more increases could be on the table this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+1.26%
jumped about 430 points, or 1.3%, ending near 34,409, according to preliminary FactSet data, while the S&P 500 index
SPX,
+1.22%
gained 1.2% to score a sixth session in a row of wins and its longest stretch of straight gains since Nov. 8, 2021, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
+1.15%
closed up 1.2%. The rally for stocks comes in the wake of the S&P 500 emerging from its longest bear market in decades, with shares of big technology companies continuing to lead the index higher on Thursday. Its Communications Services segment rose 1.5% Thursday, while the Information Technology sector gained 1.3%, according to FactSet. Critics of the rally have pointed to exuberance around new advances in artificial intelligence helping lift a select set of seven stocks higher. One of those stocks, Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
+3.19%
rose about 3.5% to $349, per preliminary data, a record close on Thursday.