The highlight of the day is likely the record-breaking performance--possibly a double "intraday/close"--of the Dow Jones. The absolute record has been set, with a new peak at 48,565 points, up 1%, driven by Visa (+4.4%) and Home Depot (+2.8%).
The Paris stock exchange nearly matched this feat, rising 0.79% to 8,086 points, and establishing itself as the leader among European markets following the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to continue its cycle of interest rate cuts.
Wall Street displayed a mixed trend the day after the unsurprising announcement from the Fed: the so-called "Santa rally" seemed to be underway until Oracle dampened the mood with disappointing quarterly results.
Broad U.S. indices moved away from their all-time highs due to Oracle's plunge of nearly -14%, which led to a 0.4% drop in the S&P 500 and a 1.1% decline in the Nasdaq.
On the U.S. data front, the releases were relatively secondary: wholesale inventories rose by 0.5% in September 2025 compared to the previous month, according to the Commerce Department, following a 0.1% decrease in August.
Wholesale sales fell by 0.2% in September (after a 0.2% decline in August as well, taking us back three months).
Weekly jobless claims in the United States increased by 45,000 last week, according to figures released Thursday by the Labor Department, while economists had expected an average of 220,000 claims.
Their four-week moving average stands at 216,750, compared to a revised 214,750 the previous week.
The number of people receiving regular unemployment benefits, however, dropped to 1.838 million.
At the conclusion of its final monetary policy meeting of the year, the Fed on Wednesday cut its key interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, as expected, but also lowered its inflation forecasts (2.5% versus 2.6%) and announced an immediate return to balance sheet expansion via Treasury Bill purchases.
While its chairman, Jerome Powell, did not adopt an especially dovish tone during his press conference, he also avoided sounding overly restrictive, highlighting that a rate hike was not on anyone's agenda within the FOMC.
The institution also raised its growth forecasts, while noting a weakening labor market--a "goldilocks" scenario that could well justify further credit cost reductions next year.
"The Fed will therefore continue its cycle of rate cuts, and the inflation and employment figures released next week will determine the scale and timing of the move," said Bastien Drut, head of strategy and economic research at CPRAM.
With the year-end traditionally a favorable period for equity markets, the outlook now appears clear thanks to monetary policy hopes, meaning that December's portfolio rebalancing could regain momentum.
"As I've said before--and at the risk of repeating myself--we are currently facing one of the most bullish cocktails imaginable for risk assets," assures Michael Brown, market analyst at Pepperstone.
"When you add in the fear of missing out (FOMO), extremely favorable seasonality, and massive corporate share buybacks, it's clear the most obvious momentum remains decidedly bullish," he adds.
"I remain calmly confident that the S&P 500 can reach the 7,000-point threshold by year-end," the strategist asserts.
With the Fed hurdle now cleared, the S&P 500 looks poised to post an eighth consecutive monthly gain in December, which would be a first in over 25 years.
As expected, U.S. yields fell following the Fed's decision, with the 10-year note shedding 5 basis points to move toward 4.123%.
In Europe, OATs and Bunds slipped by 1.3 basis points and ended little changed.
The dollar declined against most currencies (an average of 60.45%) after the Fed's tone was deemed relatively dovish, allowing the euro to climb (+0.6%) above 1.175 against the greenback.
Oil prices dropped sharply after the announcement of a smaller-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories. Brent crude fell 2.2% to $61.20 per barrel, while U.S. light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) dropped 2.5% to $57.25.
Risk appetite was dampened by Oracle's weaker-than-expected quarterly results.
"It's not just the earnings that are concerning, but especially the scale of its debt and its inability to reassure the market about its capacity to finance its massive investment projects," commented a trader during the week ending November 29 (the latest week for which data is available), compared to 1.937 million the previous week.
