Wall Street romped to records Thursday as a delayed jubilation swept markets worldwide following the Federal Reserve’s big cut to interest rates. The S&P 500 jumped 1.7% for one of its best days of the year and topped its last all-time high set in July.

The momentous move by the Fed helps financial markets in two big ways. It eases the brakes off the economy, which has been slowing under the weight of higher rates, and it gives a boost to prices for all kinds of investments. Besides stocks, gold and bond prices had already rallied in recent months on expectations that cuts to rates were coming.

Wall Street is hanging near its records after the Federal Reserve kicked off its efforts to prevent a recession with a bigger-than-usual cut to interest rates. The S&P 500 was