U.S. stocks had their best day in six weeks on Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 1.1%.

This was its second gain in nine days.

The Dow Jones added 316 points, or 0.6%.

The Nasdaq climbed 1.7%.

Brent crude oil fell 1% to $104.82 a barrel.

This helped stocks.

Oil was nearly $110 earlier in the week.

Worries about the war with Iran pushed prices up then.

Lower oil prices helped pull bond yields down.

This eased pressure on stocks.

The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.93%.

It was 5.01% before.

The Federal Reserve raised its short-term rate on Wednesday.

It went up by a quarter of a point.

This was its first hike in over three years.

Officials said they may raise it once more this year.

They want to fight high inflation.

Higher rates slow the economy.

They make borrowing costlier for everyone.

Some reports on Thursday said the economy can handle higher rates.

Fewer workers asked for unemployment benefits.

Mid-Atlantic manufacturing grew more than expected.

Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh spoke about the rate hike.

He said a stronger economy was a reason.

He also said "geopolitics" was a reason.

AI stocks kept going up.

Nvidia rose 2.5%.

Advanced Micro Devices rose 6.4%.

Some homebuilders also rose as yields eased.