Making sense of the forces driving global markets

By Ahmed Saqib, Correspondent, Americas Finance and Markets Team

Jamie is enjoying some well-deserved time-off, but the Reuters markets team will still keep you up to date on what moved markets today.

I'd love to hear from you, so please reach out to me with comments at alden.bentley@thomsonreuters.com.

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Wall Street kept the party going for a fourth straight session, with investors betting that the Fed will deliver a rate cut in December.

Tech stocks led the bounce after getting hammered in mid-November. Dell's bullish AI-server forecasts helped lead the charge. The market action proved once again that "buy the dip" is alive and well on Wall Street.

AI-heavyweight Nvidia rebounded from a 2.6% drop in the prior session and declines in three of the past four, to rise more than 1% on Wednesday. 

Keep this up and the S&P 500 could avoid breaking its impressive six-month winning streak.

Graphics are provided by Reuters.

Expectations for rate cuts have been reinforced in recent days after comments from San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly and Fed Governor Christopher Waller in support of a December cut.

This even as fresh data showed the job market is holding up just fine — which means the Fed has less reason to rush those rate cuts. Jobless claims actually fell to a seven-month low last week.

For now, the economy is pulling off a neat balancing act: not crashing, but just soft enough to give the Fed room to keep cutting rates.

Still, investors would do well to remember that Friday's short trading session could spring a surprise. Thin crowds and low liquidity can make for wild swings in either direction. Don't say we didn't warn you.