MARKETS ROAR BACK: FED HIKE FEARS COOL
Stocks Push Higher
- Global stocks climbed toward record highs.
- Asian markets rallied nearly 1%, led by tech.
- S&P 500 ended just shy of a record.
Fed Hike Bets Fade
- Softer US inflation eased pressure on the Fed.
- September rate-hike bets fell to around 35%.
- Traders now see more room for the Fed to hold rates steady.
Bonds Catch A Bid
- Treasury yields moved lower across the curve.
- 2-year yield slipped to 4.18%.
- 10-year yield fell to 4.67%.
Oil Rally Finally Breaks
- Brent fell 0.8% to $88.25 a barrel.
- WTI dropped 0.9% to $82.49.
- Lower oil prices helped lift market sentiment.
AI Trade Roars Back
- South Korea’s Kospi jumped 4.2% into bull-market territory.
- Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix gained more than 5%.
- But Cisco and Cerebras showed that AI optimism still comes with risks.
Corporate watch
- Cisco: Beat revenue and profit estimates, but shares fell after the outlook disappointed investors.
- Cerebras: Hardware revenue declined, sending shares down 17%.
- Tencent: More than doubled AI and computing spending to about $7.8B.
- Anthropic: Reportedly in talks to acquire Decart AI for about $6B.
- DeepSeek: Launches a social media presence and builds an AI agent-focused team.
The big picture
Softer inflation is giving markets breathing room, while falling oil prices and renewed AI momentum are adding to the optimism. But sticky inflation, high bond yields and geopolitical risks still have traders on alert.