Traders work after a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on the floor of the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures were little changed Thursday night, after the major averages rose following Wednesday’s first Federal Reserve interest rate hike in three years.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 19 points, or 0.04%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures dipped 0.05% and 0.08%, respectively.
Markets are coming off a positive session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 316 points, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 rallied 1.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.7%.
Stocks posted a comeback one day after the Fed’s decision to raise rates by a quarter percentage point — with the suggestion of at least one more rate increase this year — drove major market averages sharply lower Wednesday.
But Thursday’s rally — especially in technology stocks — implies many investors are looking past the prospect of a higher-for-longer rate, or inflation, environment, returning instead to an artificial intelligence story that should continue to bolster corporate profits.
“At some point, all cycles end,” Brian Levitt, chief global market strategist at Invesco, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” “This one, I don’t think it’s going to end with the higher Fed funds rate necessarily anytime soon, or higher oil prices. It’s going to end when something breaks in the AI trade, when, again, a hyperscaler pulls back on investment, or the market deems the amount of investment to be overdone compared to expected return on invested capital. But that’s not the current environment that we’re in.”
The week concludes Friday with more commentary from Fed officials. Fed Governor Michelle Bowman, a permanent voting member of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, and Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid, a non-voting member, are set to speak. Investors will look for greater clarity into policymakers’ thinking behind Wednesday’s unanimous vote for an interest rate hike.
The major stock averages are on pace for a mixed week. As of Thursday’s close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 1.5% this week, on track for a third straight losing week. The S&P 500 was also lower week-to-date, by 0.3%. Only the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was set to enter Friday’s trading showing weekly gains, up 0.3%.
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