Financial Markets                      11/28 09:30

   

   U.S. stocks opened with gains on the final trading day of November.

   The S&P 500 rose 0.2% and needs a slightly larger gain to avoid its first 
down month since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 138 points, and 
the Nasdaq gained 0.3%.

   Coinbase Global added 3.6% as bitcoin rose above $92,000 after dropping to 
around $81,000 last week. The world's most popular cryptocurrency is still well 
below its all-time high of around $125,000 set in early October.

   Most tech stocks posted gains, with Meta Platforms rising 1.4% and Micron 
Technology adding 2.8%. But Nvidia, the market's most valuable stock, fell 1% 
and is headed for a double-digit loss for the month. Oracle another high-flyer 
that struggled this month, fell 2.3%.

   Wall Street is operating on an abbreviated schedule Friday after being 
closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. Stock trading closes at 1 p.m. ET.

   Earlier, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 
were halted for hours due to a technical issue at the Chicago Mercantile 
Exchange. CME said the problem was tied to an outage at a CyrusOne data center.

   After slumping earlier this month as investors worried that many of the tech 
stocks that were propelled higher by the frenzy over artificial intelligence, 
stocks have risen for four straight trading sessions on hopes the Federal 
Reserve will again cut interest rates at its meeting next month.

   Recent comments from Federal Reserve officials have given traders more 
confidence the central bank will again cut interest rates at its meeting that 
ends Dec. 10. Traders are betting on a nearly 87% probability that the Fed will 
cut next month, according to data from CME Group.

   The central bank, which has already cut rates twice this year in hopes of 
shoring up the slowing job market, is facing an increasingly difficult decision 
on interest rates as inflation rises and the job market slows. Cutting interest 
rates further could help support the economy as employment weakens, but it 
could also fuel inflation. The latest round of corporate earnings reports was 
mostly positive, but economic data has been mixed.

   The minutes of the Fed's most recent meeting in October indicate there are 
likely to be strong divisions among policymakers about the Fed's next step.

   Treasury yields held mostly steady, with the 10-year yield at 4.01%.

   In European trading, Germany's DAX rose 0.3% as traders awaited inflation 
data set to be released later in the day.

   Britain's FTSE 100 edged up 0.3% on gains in energy and mining stocks. The 
CAC 40 in France also rose 0.2%.

   In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed 0.2% higher to 50,253.91, rebounding from 
losses earlier in the day. Data showed Japan's housing starts rose 3.2% in 
October from the same period a year ago, the first annual increase since March. 
The number defied market expectations of 5.2% decline and reversed a 7.3% drop 
in September.

   South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.5% after the country's industrial production 
fell 4% month-on-month in October, more than the 1.1% decline in September.

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