Major indices around the world tagged fresh records as the AI trade refused to cool and the rate-cut cycle gathered momentum.
It was a green day on every major board. The S&P 500, the Nasdaq, the FTSE, and the Nikkei all printed fresh all-time highs, and the breadth was unusually wide for a tech-led tape.
Two stories are doing most of the work. The first is the AI trade, which has not so much paused as gotten broader: the names benefitting are now twenty deep, not five. The second is the Fed's 50-basis-point cut, which has reset discount rates and pushed long-duration risk back into vogue.
Skeptics point to the math. At these multiples, even small disappointments will hurt. The honest answer is that the market knows that and does not care, because the alternative — sitting in cash while everything else rips — is the kind of pain career managers are not paid to absorb.
For now, the tape is the tape. Buyers are in charge, and the few sellers we have are the ones who got out a thousand points ago and have been waiting for a chance to feel right.