U.S. stock markets opened higher on Friday after an outage on CME Group’s trading platforms halted futures activity for several hours.
By 09:32 ET (14:32 GMT), the S&P 500 was up 16 points, or 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite gained 88 points, or 0.4%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 99 points, or 0.2%. U.S. markets had been closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
CME said in an update on its website that all futures markets have reopened and are trading normally. The exchange operator explained that the outage was caused by a “cooling issue” at a key data center.
The disruption affected a wide range of contracts, including stocks, bonds, crude oil, and gold. Trading volumes were expected to be light on Friday because of the shortened post-holiday session.
Wall Street lifted by rate-cut hopes and Fed Chair speculation
U.S. indexes have bounced back this week, helped by renewed expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in December.
Some Fed officials have argued that rates should remain in their current 3.75% to 4% range due to a lack of new economic data. Others have pushed for another rate cut to support the weakening labor market. The Fed already lowered rates in both September and October.
CME FedWatch now shows an 85% probability of a quarter-point cut at the December 9–10 meeting, up sharply from last week.
Sentiment was also supported by speculation over the next Federal Reserve Chair. A report indicated that White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett is the leading candidate to replace Jerome Powell. Hassett is expected to favor President Donald Trump’s call for sharply lower interest rates.
These expectations helped ease concerns about a potential bubble in the artificial intelligence sector. Throughout the month, stocks have been pressured by worries about overheated tech valuations, risky financing practices within AI startups, and an uncertain economic outlook.
PCE data due next week
Attention next week will focus on several key economic reports — among the few official data points available to the Fed before its upcoming meeting.
The most important release is the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, a key inflation measure, scheduled for December 5. However, due to delays caused by the record-long federal government shutdown, the report will only include September data.
Because of these delays, analysts warn the figures may not fully reflect current economic conditions. Government officials have also canceled the inflation and labor reports for October, citing insufficient time to collect data during the shutdown.
