5 things to know before the stock market opens Thursday

• Markets fell Wednesday after the Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates by 50 basis points.
• The central bank's Chair Jerome Powell tried to dispel concerns that the significant move signaled fears about the economy.
• Boeing is starting to furlough tens of thousands of employees as machinists strike.

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

Stock markets took a volatile turn Wednesday as investors weighed the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. Market watchers initially cheered the outsized 50-basis-point rate cut, but it raised concerns that the Fed was trying to get ahead of potential economic weakness. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 103.08 points lower, or down 0.25%, after earlier rising as much as 375.79 points just after the Fed decision. The S&P 500 lost 0.29% after touching a record high in earlier trading, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.31%. Fed Chair Jerome Powell tried to squash concerns that the central bank had concerns about the economy, but stocks still fell. Follow live market updates.

The Federal Reserve cut its key overnight borrowing rate by a half percentage point, or 50 basis points, for the first time since 2008, during the global financial crisis. It's the first rate cut since the early days of the Covid pandemic and lowers the federal funds rate to a range between 4.75% and 5%. The decision was not unanimous, as Fed Governor Michelle Bowman backed a quarter-point hike instead of the more aggressive half point. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said with Wednesday's decision, the Fed was "trying to achieve a situation where we restore price stability without the kind of painful increase in unemployment that has come sometimes with this inflation."