IXIC: Nasdaq Jumps 1.7% as Tech Stocks Rebound After Fed Rattle. Futures Are Flat.

Lower oil prices and Treasury yields gave growth stocks room to recover, while the BOJ’s rate hike kept currencies a crowded market sector.

📈 Nasdaq leads the rebound

• The Nasdaq Composite IXIC gained 1.7% to 26,418, recording its strongest session in six weeks. The S&P 500 rose 1.1% and the Dow added 316 points as investors looked beyond the Federal Reserve’s rate hike and focused on easing oil prices and lower bond yields.
• The 10-year Treasury yield slipped from around 5.01% to 4.93%, reducing some of the pressure on long-duration technology stocks. Growth shares are particularly sensitive to yields because much of their valuation depends on profits expected several years into the future.
• Speaking of future, Friday futures were broadly steady after the rally, suggesting traders were not immediately abandoning the move but were also reluctant to chase it aggressively.

🤖 AI stocks regain their footing

• Nvidia and AMD were among the biggest gainers as investors returned to semiconductor and artificial-intelligence names. Jensen Huang’s chip giant was up over 2% while his cousin’s (Lisa Su), was up 6.3%.
• The rebound was broad enough to matter, but not yet decisive enough to declare the latest AI pullback finished. Traders will be watching market breadth, chip-sector volume and whether software stocks participate.
• Generator maker Generac was the standout single-stock story. Its shares surged more than 18% after Amazon agreed to buy backup generators for its data-center network under a deal that could eventually reach $8 billion.

🌏 Asia follows Wall Street higher

• Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei rose around 0.8% to 64,646, led by chip stocks. Lasertec gained 9% and Advantest rose 7% as lower oil prices eased concerns about imported inflation and the cost of running energy-intensive industrial operations.
• In a widely anticipated move, the Bank of Japan raised its policy rate by 25 basis points to 1.25%, the highest level in 31 years. The yen slump because there wasn’t a strong conviction that an October hike is coming.
• Japan’s experience is a reminder that a rate increase does not automatically strengthen a currency. The yen weakened toward ¥157.20 per dollar erasing a lot of the progress over the past few days.

💵 Dollar firm, gold steady and bitcoin rangebound

• The dollar held near a seven-week high after the Fed’s decision. The euro was broadly flat near $1.1460 as rate expectations continued to favor the dollar.
• Gold edged up around 0.3% to $4,350 an ounce. Higher rates are normally a headwind for an asset that pays no interest, but lower oil prices reduced some inflation pressure while central-bank buying and geopolitical risk supported demand.
• Bitcoin traded near $77,400 and ether around $2,500, both well-bid Friday morning. Crypto is absorbing the same crosscurrents as technology stocks: easier financial conditions would help, but a stronger dollar and the prospect of another Fed hike limit the immediate upside.