U.S. stocks posted outsized gains Thursday, logging their biggest one-day climb in two years, as Wall Street cheered lighter-than-expected inflation data and monitored midterm election tallies.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October reflected a 7.7% increase over last year and 0.4% increase over the prior month, better than Wall Street expected. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 7.9% annual rise and 0.5% monthly gain.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rallied 5.5% — its biggest intraday gain since April 2020 — while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) jumped 1,200 points, or 3.7%, the most since May 2020. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) advanced a whopping 7.4%, its sharpest climb since emerging from the pandemic crash in March 2020. Meanwhile, Treasury yields tumbled following the report, with the benchmark 10-year note falling well below the 4% level.

Moderations in the data again fueled bets that the Federal Reserve may ease the pace of its monetary tightening campaign, with investors shrugging off Chair Jerome Powell's assertion earlier this month that a policy shift is not imminent. Remarks by Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker also suggested Thursday that officials may be nearing a pause, though other officials stressed the need for continued hikes, even if at a slower pace.

@Daily_Discussion