Stocks soared on Thursday as investors bet the Federal Reserve is close to wrapping up its rate-hiking campaign and assessed a fresh stream of corporate results.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) closed about 1.8% and 1.9% higher, respectively, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained roughly 1.7%, or more than 500 points.

All three major gauges ended Wednesday with strong gains after the Fed held interest rates steady at their highest range in 22 years. The market's overall takeaway from Chair Jerome Powell's comments on the decision is that the US central bank will stick with keeping rates unchanged in December.

Read more: What the Fed rate-hike pause means for bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards

Traders are now pricing in an 85% chance there will be no more Fed hikes this year, compared with a 59% probability the day before its policymakers' meeting, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Attention is now turning to earnings season, with Apple's (AAPL) quarterly report due after hours as the highlight in a packed Thursday. Top of mind will be what its results show about the iPhone situation in China and global consumer spending, after a mixed bag of reports from US tech giants so far.

Meanwhile, Starbucks stock (SBUX) popped nearly 10% after the coffee chain beat estimates for revenue and earnings. Shopify (SHOP) said it returned to a profit in the third quarter as it adopted AI, and its shares jumped more than 20%.

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