Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq rise, gold rally roars as Fed minutes point to more rate cuts in 2025

The Fed minutes from September’s FOMC meeting suggested that most participants supported further easing through the rest of 2025.

“Participants expressed a range of views about the degree to which the current stance of monetary policy was restrictive and about the likely future path of policy. Most judged that it likely would be appropriate to ease policy further over the remainder of this year,” the minutes said.

Even as the minutes underscored the emerging divisions within the central bank, the document showed that Fed officials’ sentiment matched expectations from a survey it sends to financial market participants.

“All respondents to the Desk survey expected a 25 basis point cut in the target range for the federal funds rate last month, and around half expected an additional cut at the October meeting,” the minutes read.

“The vast majority of survey respondents expected at least two 25 basis point cuts by year-end, with around half expecting three cuts over that time,” said the minutes published on Wednesday afternoon.

Fed officials voted to lower interest rates by 25 basis points last month, a move opposed by newly appointed Governor Stephan Miran, who had wanted a 50 basis point cut.

The markets jumped to session highs following the release of the Fed minutes.

Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:

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Yahoo Finance’s Allie Canal reports:

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Dell (DELL) shares rose over 8% Wednesday, adding to their 3.5% gain during the previous trading session as the server maker boosted its long-term financial outlook.

Dell said during an investor event Tuesday that it expects revenue to grow 7% to 9% annually through its 2030 fiscal year, up from its prior range of 3% to 4%. The company forecast that adjusted earnings per share will grow 15% or more yearly during that time frame, up from its prior growth estimate of 8%.

Dell executives pointed to companies’ rising capital expenditures on AI as they invest in infrastructure to power the technology. That infrastructure includes Dell’s servers with Nvidia’s (NVDA) latest GPUs (graphics processing units), or AI chips.

“Hardware is cool again, and we are uniquely positioned, providing opportunities to grow across both data center infrastructure and AI PCs,” said the company’s founder and CEO, Michael Dell.

Wall Street analysts at firms including TD Cowen, JPMorgan (JPM), and Bank of America (BAC) raised their price targets on Dell stock, citing AI momentum.

To be sure, the wave of recent spending on AI is being scrutinized, as analysts debate whether firms — namely, OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) — can live up to their hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure commitments. At the same time, concerns of circularity in AI investments has fueled further fears of an AI bubble, while the long term financial gains of renting AI servers has been called into question due a new report on the margins of Oracle’s cloud business.

Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferré reports:

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AI chip stocks mostly gained on Wednesday amid a flurry of recent AI megadeals.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) shares climbed 4.5% Wednesday morning, adding to a recent upswing after the chipmaker’s multibillion-dollar deal with OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) was unveiled earlier this week. The news was just the latest in a string of massive deals between the ChatGPT-maker and Big Tech firms — for example, OpenAI’s $300 billion deal with Oracle (ORCL) and $100 billion investment from Nvidia (NVDA).

Also on Wednesday, Nvidia shares climbed more than 2% after Bloomberg reported the prior evening that the AI chip giant is investing as much as $2 billion in Elon Musk’s xAI (XAAI.PVT). An Nvidia spokesperson declined to confirm the news to Yahoo Finance.

The hundreds of billions of dollars worth of deals among a small group of interconnected tech giants in the AI market have created concerns over “circularity,” as vendors invest in their own customers and vice versa. Such circularity could make the market seem bigger than it is, analysts say, adding to concerns of an AI bubble.

Other chip stocks also climbed on Wednesday, with Broadcom (AVGO) moving up more than 2% and Micron (MU) gaining over 4%. Qualcomm (QCOM) traded flat.

Meanwhile, Intel (INTC) stock fell nearly 2% after a downgrade from HSBC (HSBC) (see our earlier blog from my colleague Brian Sozzi).

US stocks climbed at the market open on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) turned roughly 0.2% higher, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) moved up nearly 0.3%.

The moves come on the heels of a losing day for the major indexes amid fears over an AI bubble and an ongoing US government shutdown.

Looking ahead, investors are watching for the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September meeting for further hints at the central bank’s path to lowering interest rates throughout the rest of the year.

Gold (GC=F) is not the only asset seeing a lift right now. A global benchmark of clean energy stocks is outperforming major indexes — even gold.

Bloomberg news reports:

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Bulls expecting the good times to continue when it comes to the S&P 500’s (^GSPC) recent rally have history on their side. The rally has defined the odds, with trade tensions easing, corporate earnings showing signs of resilience and the rising appetite for AI. Experts believe more gains are in store.

Bloomberg News reports:

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Here’s a look at some of the top stocks trending in premarket trading:

FedEx (FDX) stock fell 2% before the bell on Wednesday after an SEC filing revealed that Prime Capital Investment advisors sold 4,610 shares in the courier service, lessening its stake.

QuantumScape (QS) stock rose 7% premarket. The company recently partnered with PowerCo SE and showed off its solid-state batteries at the IAA Mobility conference. In addition, QuntumScape and Corning (GLW), a glass ceramics company, announced an agreement to develop ceramic separator manufacturing capabilities for QS solid-state batteries.

Nano Nuclear Energy Inc. (NNE) shares fell 8% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the company, which is focused on developing clean energy solutions, announced it had entered into securities purchase agreements with institutional investors for the purchase and sale of 8,490,767 shares of common stock

Big fan of the work from Goldman Sachs strategist Peter Oppenheimer.

So when he posts something today with the headline: “Why we are not in a bubble … yet” it certainly gets my attention.

Here’s how Oppenheimer is thinking through this:

Intel’s (INTC) stock is up a sizzling 90% in the past six months. It’s definitely not because of strong performance.

The veteran chipmaker can now count Nvidia (NVDA) and the US government as major investors. More investment deals are likely, but the Street is beginning to view Intel’s stock as too lofty, valuation-wise, even given its new high-profile investors.

HSBC analyst Frank Lee is out this morning with a reality check on Intel. He downgraded his rating on the company to Reduce from Hold.

He lays out why:

Confluent shares rose 18% in premarket trading on Wednesday after announcing it is exploring a sale due to attracting acquisition interest, according to people familiar with the matter.

Reuters reports:

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