Fast Money’ traders discuss the momentum driving markets into year-end

Market Momentum & Trends - The market demonstrated resilience by reversing a midday dip and reaching a new all-time high, suggesting strong momentum despite extended valuations and a potential government shutdown [1][2] - The market's strength is partly attributed to the "October chase," where investors who are behind need to deploy capital, potentially disregarding valuation concerns [2][3] - Momentum is shifting from the MAG 7 stocks to other groups, including crypto and recent IPOs, indicating a broadening of market participation [4][6][7] - The current market environment is drawing comparisons to both the late 1990s tech bubble and the 2020-2021 period, fueled by FOMO (fear of missing out) in digital assets [7] AI & Technology Sector - Neocloud stocks are experiencing rallies following contract announcements from major hyperscalers like Microsoft and Meta, although the latter companies' stock prices did not increase on the announcement days [5][6] - Open AI's valuation reached $500 billion, with employees selling $6.6 billion worth of shares, highlighting the scale of private market activity [8][13] - Samsung is a key player in the memory chip space, particularly in relation to AI, but US investors may have limited exposure due to its non-US listing [9] Macroeconomic Factors - The government shutdown is not expected to create a debt ceiling issue, as that was addressed in previous legislation [10] - The labor market data is not looking strong, which may be paradoxically beneficial for equities in the short term [11] Private Equity & Funding - Tech employees at private companies now have opportunities to sell shares in secondary markets, unlike in past cycles where they had to wait for IPOs [12] - Open AI's employee share sale of $6.6 billion is funded by venture capital funds, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and wealthy individuals [8][13][14]