Market Reaction - The stock market reacted positively to the Fed's announcement of a 25 basis point rate cut, with the small-cap Russell 2000 reaching a new all-time high close and the S&P 500 coming within 5 points of its own all-time high [1][2] - The Dow increased by 497 points (+1.05%), the S&P rose by 46 points (+0.67%), while the Nasdaq lagged with a gain of 77 points (+0.33%) [2] Federal Reserve Actions - The Fed cut the Fed funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 3.50-3.75%, with three dissents from the policy decision, marking the first dissent in six years [3] - The Fed will begin purchasing $40 billion in Treasury bills, a move that was earlier expected to be $20-30 billion, indicating a more aggressive approach to maintaining its balance sheet [4] Economic Outlook - The Fed's outlook for 2026 GDP increased by 0.5 percentage points to +2.4%, while the inflation rate is predicted to decrease by 10 basis points to +2.5% [5] - A majority of Fed members now advocate for one rate cut or fewer in the upcoming year, with some members favoring no cuts at all [5] Company Earnings - Oracle (ORCL) reported fiscal Q2 earnings of $2.26 per share, exceeding expectations, but revenues of $16.1 billion fell slightly short of the $16.15 billion forecast [7][8] - Adobe Systems (ADBE) reported fiscal Q4 earnings of $5.50 per share, surpassing expectations, with revenues of $6.19 billion also exceeding estimates [9] - Synopsys (SNPS) posted fiscal Q4 earnings of $2.90 per share on revenues of $2.26 billion, both figures beating analyst expectations [10]

The USD is little changed vs the major currencies with the EUR, JPY, GBP , CHF and CAD all within 0.10% of the unchanged level to start the US session. The AUD is the biggest mover with a 0.30% gain vs the USD and the NZD is higher by 0.19%. The markets are stymied by the fear of increased war tension (and its implications) with Israel's bombing Hamas senior officials in Qatar (not warmly received by the international community), and Russia's provocation with Poland that led to Poland shooting down Russian ...