The Dow Jones Industrial average kept its rally going Thursday a day after closing above 37,000 for the first time ever as the 10-year Treasury tumbled below 4% and a surprise gain in retail sales gave investors further confidence 2024 would bring a soft economic landing. Dow futures added 200 points, or 0.5%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.5% and 0.4%. Retail sales increased 0.3% in November, the Commerce Department said on Thursday, in the latest sign that consumer spending remains strong as the holiday shopping season continues. Economists polled by Dow Jones forecast a decrease of 0.1%. The 10-year Treasury note yield dropped below 4% for the first time since August as traders mounted bets on rate cuts for 2024. The benchmark rate was last at 3.95%. The Dow on Wednesday jumped more than 1% to reach a record high above 37,000 after the Federal Open Market Committee indicated it may cut rates three times next year. “The Fed delivered the dovish pivot that we expected heading into the December meeting,” Michael Gapen, chief U.S. economist at Bank of America, wrote on Wednesday. “While we did not expect the Fed to move to an outright easing bias, we did expect it to move to a more balanced reaction function and, in the event, we think it did just that.” The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also reached fresh 52-week highs on Wednesday. The S&P could soon join the Dow in record territory, as the index is just 2% away from reaching its all-time close set in January of 2022. The Nasdaq is 9% away from its closing record and has 10% further to go to reach its intraday record, respectively. In extended trading Wednesday, shares of Adobe declined by more than 4% following muted guidance for 2024 earnings and revenue. Treasury yields fell to their lowest levels in months on Thursday as investors digested guidance issued by the Federal Reserve about the outlook for interest rates as its final policy meeting of the year concluded Wednesday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was down by 5.6 basis points at 3.973%, breaking below the 4% mark for the first time since August. The 2-year Treasury yield was last 11.6 basis points lower at 4.37%. It had fallen by as many as 25 basis points on Wednesday. Asia-Pacific equity markets ended mostly mixed Thursday, with investors digesting the U.S. Federal Reserve’s move to end its interest-rate-hiking cycle and signal cuts for the next year. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.65%, hitting levels not seen since Aug. 1 and closing at 7,377.9. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.73% lower at 32,686.25, while the Topix slipped 1.43% to close at 2,321.35. The financial sector led declines in the region as investors in Japan awaited the Bank of Japan’s policy decision next week. South Korea’s Kospi was an outlier on the day, popping 1.34% to close at 2,544.18, while the small-cap Kosdaq added 1.36% to end at 840.59. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.85% in the final hour of trading, while China’s CSI 300 index ended 0.52% lower at 3,351.96. Oil prices rose on Thursday, extending the previous session’s gains, on a bigger-than-expected weekly withdrawal from U.S. crude storage and a weaker dollar after the U.S. central bank signaled lower borrowing costs for 2024. Brent futures was up $1.45, or 1.95%, to $75.70 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed $1.30, or 1.9%, to $70.77.