Wall Street Rally, Small Caps Rocket On Fed Dovish Remarks: What's Moving Markets Friday?

Wall Street staged a sharp rebound Friday after a bruising week of volatility in tech, as a wave of dovish comments from Federal Reserve officials flipped market expectations toward a rate cut next month.

• XHB is delivering impressive returns. See the full breakdown here.

Risk appetite returned the moment New York Fed President John Williams suggested the central bank has room to ease policy further, pointing to a cooling labor market. His tone was reinforced by Gov. Stephen Miran, who explicitly said he would vote for a cut following “dovish implications” from the September jobs report released Thursday.

Traders wasted no time repricing the outlook. The probability of a December rate cut has surged to roughly 70%, up from just 25% a day earlier.

Lower-rate hopes powered a strong rally in interest-sensitive stocks. The small-cap Russell 2000 jumped 2.8%, putting it on track for its best single-day gain since late August.

All 11 S&P 500 sectors traded higher, with basic materials and consumer discretionary leading the way — both up 2.6%.

Homebuilders delivered an even bigger pop. The group — as tracked by the State Street SPDR S&P Homebuilder ETF (NYSE:XHB) rocketed 5.3%, its best day since April 9, while D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE:DHI) climbed more than 7%.

Treasury yields sank in response to the dovish shift, with the 10-year note sliding to 4.05% — the lowest level since late October.

But even with the broader risk-on tone, investors continued to dump AI names with elevated valuations. Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) slumped another 5% on Friday, extending its weekly decline to 10%, the worst since March 2018.

The stock has now fallen for six straight weeks and is down more than 20% in November, pacing for its roughest month since May 2002.

In commodities, oil prices dropped 2% after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signaled he was open to peace talks following Washington's draft proposal — a plan that reportedly includes territorial concessions and a possible rollback of oil sanctions, raising fresh oversupply concerns.

Crypto markets remained deep in the red. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) tumbled to an intraday low of $80,000 before rebounding to $85,000, still down 1.7% on the day. Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) slipped another 1.2% to $2,800, leaving it more than 40% off its recent highs.

Friday’s Performance In Major U.S. Indices, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) rose 1.2% to $606.94.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) rose 1.3% to $463.86.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) rose 0.9% to $590.91.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rocketed 2.7% to $235.26.
• The Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLB) outperformed, up 2.7%; the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) lagged, up 0.3%.

Russell 1000’s Top 5 Gainers On Friday

Russell 1000’s Top 5 Laggards On Friday

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