US stocks surged overnight, with the Nasdaq Composite closing above 20,000 for the first time. It closed 1.77% higher at 20,034.89. The S&P 500 rose 0.82% to 6,084.26, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.22% lower 44,148.56.
Tech stocks led the rally, driven by Alphabet, which closed 5.46% higher, advancing on news of a breakthrough in quantum computing. Meta, Amazon, Nvidia, and Tesla also posted gains, with Nvidia up over 3% and Tesla climbing around 6%. Year to date, Tesla is up around 71%, and around 47% since the presidential election.
The latest US consumer price index (CPI) data came in on Wednesday. It showed inflation rose 0.3% in November. This matched expectations. Year-on-year, CPI was up 2.7%, while core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 3.3%.
The data pointed to stabilising inflation, and boosted expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut in December. This aligns with moves by other central banks, with the Bank of Canada cutting its rate by 50 basis points on 11 December. The Swiss and European central banks are expected to follow with quarter-point cuts.
Looking at currencies, one Australian dollar at 8:30 was buying 63.72 US cents, 60.72 Euro cents and 97.22 Japanese Yen.
Turning to Australia, shares are set to open higher, with ASX futures pointing to a 0.45% rise.
Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap, Marketech.
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