The morning after a big event can often be sluggish. That’s not the case for markets, which have woken up to a new-found clarity after the Federal Reserve’s first rate increase in three years. President Donald Trump seemed to have a sore head, though—opting to blame a “hostile” and “political” Fed board, rather than Chairman Kevin Warsh.

The market wouldn’t usually relish the start of a rate-hiking cycle, but it craves certainty. The central bank penciled in one more quarter-point hike to come this year—so we can all move on for now.

Investors also love buying the dip—the S&P 500 has fallen 1.8% so far in September—and can take comfort in the Fed’s approach to tackling inflation. 

The Fed fallout is even enough for markets to brush aside artificial-intelligence safety fears. OpenAI revealed six incidents of “concerning behavior,” but Marvell, Lumentum, and other hot AI stocks were higher in premarket trading regardless. Anthropic’s upcoming IPO will thrust the safety issue back into the spotlight—and the world isn’t ready. 

But the stock market is ready to get back to winning ways.

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