Wall Street is roaring toward records Thursday as a delayed jubilation sweeps markets worldwide following the Federal Reserve’s big cut to interest rates. The S&P 500 was 1.5% higher in early trading and above its all-time closing high set in July.

Copper traded near its highest close in three weeks and other metals were mixed as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s bid to defend US growth and the labor market with a half-point rate-cut.

The cut, and the prospect of more before the end of the year, pushed MSCI's 47-country world stocks index close to a record high. Wall Street futures were up after the S&P 500 hit its own all-time peak overnight [.N], and Europe also opened strongly. [.EU]

Gold prices gained on Wednesday, as investors awaited for the Federal Reserve to start its U.S. monetary easing cycle for the first time in over four years. Spot gold rose 0.3% to $2,577.75 per ounce as of 9:30 a.

The market performed better if there wasn’t a subsequent recession or if the economy was already in recession during easing.

While the municipal market barely budged following the Fed's decision to cut rates 50 basis points, Thursday saw muni yields rise up to two basis points, depending on the scale, but still lagged the weakness in USTs.

Asian markets have forged higher after the Federal Reserve kicked off its efforts to prevent a recession in the U.S. with a bigger-than-usual cut to interest rates

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