The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Wall Street's stock indexes rallied to records on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve eased investor jitters by keeping borrowing costs unchanged and reinforcing expectations that rates could be cut by three-quarters of a percentage point by the end of 2024. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that the Toronto Stock Exchange also posted a robust advance, and is now within 45 points of hitting its own record closing high. The Fed's policy statement described inflation as remaining "elevated," and it raised projections for economic growth and lowered its projection for the unemployment rate from estimates it provided in December. Stocks added to gains after Fed chair Jerome Powell said in a press conference that despite recent inflation data coming in hotter than expected, the numbers "haven't really changed the overall story, which is that of inflation moving down gradually, on a somewhat bumpy road." The Dow rose 401.37 points. The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 185.13 points at 22,045.71, stopping just short of the record closing high of 22,087.22 in March, 2022. The price of oil retreated, settling 2.1 per cent lower at $81.68 (U.S.) a barrel.