Stock Market Surge: Anticipation of Fed Rate Cut Sparks Investor Excitement By: Stock Market Charlie

A crowd gathers in front of an illuminated federal building adorned with grand columns, raising their hands as fireworks light up the night sky, creating a festive and patriotic atmosphere.

Buckle up for a wild start to the week! Stock futures are doing a happy dance this Monday, as investors are bursting with excitement that the Federal Reserve might just play Santa and cut interest rates at its December shindig.

Our tech-savvy buddy Nasdaq is strutting with a 0.7% rise, while the iconic S&P 500 and the prestigious Dow Jones Industrial Average are also joining the party, inching up by 0.5% and 0.2% respectively.

Stock and bond markets will be napping on Thursday for the Thanksgiving feast, with a quick snooze on Friday.

The CME FedWatch tool is now throwing a 75% chance of a rate-cutting fiesta next month, after New York Fed President John Williams dropped a hint on Friday that he's open to a rate cut "in the near term."

On Friday, the three indexes boogied up about 1% after Williams' comments, though they ended the week on a bit of a downer, with the Nasdaq slipping 2.7% and both the Dow and S&P sliding 1.9% each.

Indexes took a tumble over AI spending jitters and big tech valuations. AI superstar Nvidia (NVDA) tumbled about 6% over the week, despite flaunting fabulous third-quarter results and a sunny outlook on Wednesday. Nvidia shares are up 0.6% in premarket trading Monday.

Shares of Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) kept climbing the beanstalk after showing off Gemini 3, its latest AI model, last Tuesday. The stock rocketed over 8% last week and is up another 3.5% pre-bell. Meanwhile, fellow Magnificent Seven member Tesla (TSLA) took a leap of 2% after CEO Elon Musk declared on his X network that the EV giant plans "to build chips at higher volumes ultimately than all other AI chips combined."

U.S.-listed shares of Novo Nordisk (NVO) took a 10% nosedive after a trial revealed that the magic ingredient in the company's weight-loss wonders Ozempic and Wegovy didn't outshine a placebo in slowing Alzheimer's progression.

Meanwhile, shares of Performance Food Group (PFGC) took a 4% spill, while US Foods Holdings (USFD) climbed 2.5% after the companies decided to call off their merger dance.

Bitcoin, bouncing back from its worst week since February, is strutting around $86,000, up from a weekend low below $83,500. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dipped to 4.05%. The U.S. dollar index, measuring the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, slipped 0.2% to 100.02.

WTI crude futures, the benchmark for U.S. oil, tiptoed up to $58.10 per barrel. Gold futures stayed as steady as a rock at $4,075 per ounce.

By: Stock Market Charlie