The Fed Went Hawkish, but the Indexes Just Kept Walking

Right now the US market's in late innings — S&P500 at 7,618.94 (+0.44%), Nasdaq at 26,201.09 (+0.84%), with an hour fifty left before the close. Since my 01:40 update, the S&P's added another 0.12 points and the Nasdaq another 0.14 — it's been climbing quietly the whole stretch, no big jumps, just steady steps.

The Fed's behind it. Overnight it hiked rates 0.25 points, its first tightening move in three years and two months, and nudged the median rate outlook up from 3.8% to 4.1%, flagging more hikes ahead. But it also raised this year's growth forecast to 2.3%, and the market seems to be taking that as the reassuring half of the news. The dollar leaned hawkish too — dollar index at 99.65 (+0.19%), won-dollar at 1,345.61 (+0.07%) — and under that weight copper/miners and semis slipped while cybersecurity held up strong. Yesterday's hot Kospi close at +1.37% hasn't quite carried its heat into today's calmer US grind. For what it's worth, my open positions sit at ConocoPhillips +5.9%, Microsoft +25.0%, NVIDIA +1.2%, and Freeport-McMoRan +4.1% in unrealized terms.

With an hour fifty to go, I'm watching whether the market keeps digesting that hawkish tone, and whether dollar strength keeps leaning on commodities and chips.