U.S. stock futures rose Thursday, adding to the previous session’s strong gains after the Federal Reserve signaled interest rate cuts to start next year.

By 06:50 ET (11:50 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 95 points, or 0.3%, S&P 500 Futures traded 12 points, or 0.3%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 50 points, or 0.3%.

The main Wall Street indices closed firmly higher Wednesday, in the wake of the U.S. central bank’s last policy meeting, with the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining over 500 points, or 1.4%, at an all-time closing high. The broad-based S&P 500 and the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite both climbed 1.4%, both at their best closing levels this year.

U.S. Treasury yields dropped sharply as well, with the rate-sensitive 2-year Treasury yield falling to the lowest mark since June and the benchmark 10-year yield dipping to its weakest point since August.

Fed points to rate cuts next year
The Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady at a more than two-decade high at Wednesday’s conclusion of its two-day meeting, as widely expected, but its quarterly “dot plot” showed that policymakers were factoring in three quarter-point cuts in 2024, a more dovish outlook than prior estimates.

Additionally, Chair Jerome Powell declined to push back against rate cut expectations, saying a discussion of cuts in borrowing costs is coming “into view.”

Powell also stressed the need to prevent unemployment from spiking, suggesting the strength of the labor market was now rivaling its bid to quell elevated inflation in importance.

With this in mind, the weekly jobless claims data will be studied carefully later Thursday, along with November’s retail sales and imports data and October’s business inventories report.

Earlier in Europe, the Swiss National Bank became the latest bank to keep rates steady, while Norway increased its main rate by 25 percentage points to 4.5%, citing stubbornly elevated inflation.

The Bank of England and European Central Bank, both of which have been battling to corral high inflation, are widely tipped by economists to hold rates at 5.25% and 4.00%, respectively.

Adobe suffers from weak guidance
In corporate news, Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE) will be in the spotlight, after the computer software company’s stock fell sharply premarket after it issued conservative guidance for 2024’s earnings and revenue.

Additionally, Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) stock climbed premarket after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) acquired nearly 10.5 million shares of the oil giant for about $588.7 million.

Oil prices rise after U.S. inventories draw
Oil prices rose Thursday after a bigger-than-expected weekly draw from U.S. crude storage, as well a boost from the dovish Fed stance.

By 06:50 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 1.6% higher at $70.62 a barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 1.7% to $75.51 a barrel.

U.S. oil inventories fell by 4.3 million barrels in the week to Dec. 8, according to data from the Energy Information Administration, released Wednesday, much more than 650,000 barrels expected.

However, this draw comes on the heels of several consecutive weeks of strong builds, which could signal waning winter demand.

Additionally, gold futures rose 2.6% to $2,048.55/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.5% higher at 1.0928.