STORY: U.S. stocks finished flat to higher Thursday after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates again, extending a sharp rally sparked by Donald Trump's return as U.S. president.

The Dow ended the session unchanged while the S&P 500 added three quarters of a percent and the Nasdaq rose twice that. The S&P and Nasdaq notched record closing highs.

The Fed reduced rates a quarter of a percentage point as policymakers took note of a job market that has "generally eased" while inflation continues to move toward the U.S. central bank's 2% target.

Brian Mulberry, client portfolio manager with Zacks Investment Management calls the market reaction encouraging.

"Even after the Fed cut, we're not seeing any big moves on the two or the 10 year yields either. Everything's just kind of holding relatively steady overall. That's got to be seen as a positive as we're sitting now at you know, record high territories across the board. You know, nobody's really having second doubts about the rally that happened yesterday. I think that's pretty positive."

Stocks on the move included Warner Bros Discovery which jumped 12% as the media company posted a quarterly profit after a loss was expected.

And Zillow surged 24% after the online real estate broker's quarterly revenue topped expectations.