NEW YORK, New York - Technology stocks had a hay day Thursday with Facebook parent Meta rocketing up nearly 30 percent at one point on improved earnings. The company notched up its best day in more than ten years.

The Standard and Poor's 500 had its best day in five months.,

Only the Dow Jones industrials lagged with a sizeable fall mainly attributed to Merck, the pharmaceutial giant that revised its outlook down.

"Investors are finally looking beyond the specter of the Federal Reserve raising rates. They see there is an eventual end to the misery of rate hikes and are realizing so many stocks were oversold in the misery of last year," Peter Andersen, founder of Andersen Capital Management, told Reuters Thursday.

The Standard and Poor's 500 galloped up 60.55 points or 1.47 percent to 4,179.76.

The Dow Jones industrials were on the nose, slipping 39.02 points or 0.11 percent to 34,053.94.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed a hefty 384.50 points or 3.25 percent to close Thursday at 12,200.82.

Meta Platforms, Inc. ultimately settled $35.65 or 23.28 percent higher at $188.77. Merck & Co., Inc. closed $3.55 or 3.32 percent lower at $103.43.

The U.S. dollar generally gained ground Thursday as government bond yields eased.

The euro fell to 1.0912 approaching the U.S. close Thursday. The British pound declined to 1.2240. The Japanese yen was little changed at 128.69. The Swiss franc slipped to 0.9133.

The Canadian dollar fell slightly to 1.3318. The Australian dollar was sold down to 0.7082. The New Zealand dollar was steady at 0.6478.

On overseas equity markets, the Dax in Germany surged 2.16 percent. The Paruis-based CACX 40 added 1.26 percent. The FTSE 100 in London rose 0.76 percent.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong retreated 0.52 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.20 percent. China's Shanghai Composite inched up 0.75 of a single point or 0.02 percent.

The Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.41 percent. The Australian All Ordinaries rose 0.24 percent. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite was up 0.41 percent.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 climbed 0.51 percent. The Kospi Composite in Seoul, South Korea firmed 0.78 percent.