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It was not “just another” meeting after a Fed interest rate decision. Because the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided to cut rates for the first time since December 2024.Heavy Out-of-the-Money Put Options Activity in Amazon - Setting a Lower AMZN Buy-In PointArcher Aviation Stock Is Soaring on New FAA Win. Should You Buy ACHR Here?As Drone Stocks Skyrocket, Cathie Wood Can’t Get Enough of This 1 NameStop Missing Market Moves: Get the FREE Barchart Brief – your midday dose of stock movers, trending sectors, and actionable trade ideas, delivered right to your inbox. Sign Up Now!With nine months in between reductions in the federal funds rate target range, it is tough to call this a rate cut “cycle.” But with expectations high for further cuts in 2025, there’s uncertainty, gossip, and more swirling about what comes next.My approach to these events has typically focused not on what the Fed actually does, but what the markets do in response to it. Not so much on the day of the rate change. What I’m looking for is the emergence of patterns, where before there was stagnation.This is a great time to do two things:Ignore the crowdFocus inward, on how you manage risk.I continue to believe this is the most opportunistic market climate of my nearly 40 years in the professional investing business. And, at the same time, the most dangerous. Here are just some of the many reasons why.Fed policy, now that rate cut No. 1 for 2025 is in the books.Fed policy (yes, repeating myself), in an environment in which President Donald Trump is at odds with Federal Reserve leadership.A very narrow stock market. How narrow? Nearly $4 out of every $10 you have in an S&P 500 Index ($SPX) ETF is in 10 stocks. 10 very prominent stocks. But they lead an index which sells at close to its highest valuation in modern history.The self-fulfilling prophecy that index investing has become. There’s a lot of wealth tied up in those index funds. With a weaker job market now at the top of the Fed’s worry list, what happens to all of that 401k dollar inflow when people are laid off? History tells us they soon start to use it as a source of funds to live on, which can reverse one of the biggest “pump-priming” aspects of this bull market.Trade policy. Powell was clear in his reaction to highly uncertain tariff policy, more than 5 months after “Liberation Day.” He sees it as a hurdle to making confident decisions. That implies the same issue for investors, as they make their own investment choices in the weeks and months ahead.And, there’s the lingering concern about non-U.S. buyers of U.S. Treasury bonds. For decades, Japan, China, and OPEC have been among the biggest funders of U.S. debt. Is that still as reliable a support system as it has been?Terms and Privacy PolicyPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore InfoS&P 5006,664.36 +32.40 (+0.49%)Dow 3046,315.27 +172.85 (+0.37%)Nasdaq22,631.48 +160.75 (+0.72%)Russell 20002,448.77 -18.93 (-0.77%)VIX15.45 -0.25 (-1.59%)Gold3,719.40 +41.10 (+1.12%)PortfolioSign in to access your portfolioSign inTop gainersOKLO Oklo Inc. 135.23 +30.26 (+28.83%)BHF Brighthouse Financial, Inc. 57.59 +12.33 (+27.24%)QUBT Quantum Computing Inc. 23.27 +4.92 (+26.81%)MENS Jyong Biotech Ltd. 65.62 +13.87 (+26.80%)SMR NuScale Power Corporation 46.77 +8.65 (+22.69%)Top losersDXCM DexCom, Inc. 67.45 -8.33 (-10.99%)HESM Hess Midstream LP 35.36 -4.12 (-10.44%)VOR Vor Biopharma Inc. 27.24 -3.16 (-10.39%)CART Maplebear Inc. 41.50 -3.90 (-8.59%)ORLA Orla Mining Ltd. 10.22 -0.85 (-7.68%)Most activeOPEN Opendoor Technologies Inc. 9.57 -0.37 (-3.72%)INTC Intel Corporation 29.58 -0.99 (-3.24%)SNAP Snap Inc. 8.16 -0.28 (-3.32%)NVDA NVIDIA Corporation 176.67 +0.43 (+0.24%)BBAI BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. 6.85 +0.57 (+9.08%)Earnings eventsMy earnings eventsEarnings eventsTrending tickersAAPL Apple Inc. 245.50 +7.62 (+3.20%)OKLO Oklo Inc. 135.23 +30.26 (+28.83%)QUBT Quantum Computing Inc. 23.27 +4.92 (+26.81%)ORCL Oracle Corporation 308.66 +12.04 (+4.06%)MSFT Microsoft Corporation 517.93 +9.48 (+1.86%)Top economic eventsPowered by Money.com - Yahoo may earn commission from the links above.