Traders work after a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on the floor of the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, September 16, 2026. Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesUSA Stock futures were little changed early Friday after major averages rose following the Federal Reserve’s first interest rate hike on Wednesday in three years. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 41 points, or 0.08%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures were trading flat. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.90% while the Topix rose 0.17%. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 2.67% and the small-cap Kosdaq gained 0.45%. The Australian benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was flat. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.67%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 added 1.05%. US markets are coming off a positive session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 316 points, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 rose 1.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.7%. Stocks posted a rally a day after the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise rates by a quarter percentage point (with the suggestion of at least one more rate hike this year) sent major market averages falling sharply on Wednesday. But Thursday’s rally, especially in tech stocks, means many investors are shelving the prospect of a higher rate or inflation environment for longer, returning instead to an artificial intelligence story that should continue to boost corporate profits. “At some point, all cycles end,” Brian Levitt, chief global market strategist at Invesco, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” “This, I don’t think is going to end with a higher fed funds rate necessarily in the short term, or with higher oil prices. It will end when something breaks in AI trading, when, again, a hyperscaler pulls out of the investment, or the market views the amount of investment as overblown compared to the expected return on invested capital. But that’s not the current environment we’re in.” The week concludes on Friday with more comments from Federal Reserve officials. Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman, a permanent voting member of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, and Kansas City Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Schmid, a non-voting member, will speak. Investors will look for greater clarity in the thinking of the authorities behind Wednesday’s unanimous vote in favor of an interest rate increase. Major stock averages are headed for a mixed week. As of Thursday’s close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.5% this week, on track for a third consecutive week of losses. The S&P 500 is also down so far this week, down 0.3%. Only the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite would enter Friday trading showing weekly gains, up 0.3%.
