Daily Stock Market Report (Thur 19 Dec 2024) - US Fed, IUG, NWOR, TIME, AVAP, BOOT, FIH, INSG, SRP

Good morning! We've finished this report at 1am, cheers!

US Federal Reserve/Interest Rate news
The FTSE 100 is lower by 1% this morning, and AIM is down similarly after a “hawkish cut” by the Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones is down by 1,100 points or 2.5%.
The rate cut to 4.25% - 4.5% was anticipated, but it was accompanied by hawkish language and forecasts.
Below I have given the “dot plots” published by the Fed’s decision-making committee. These show where members believe the federal fund rates should be in 2025.
First we have the situation back in September. The plot goes from 2% at the bottom to 5% at the top, with each dark line representing a 1% change.
You can see that only one member thought that the federal funds rates should be over 4% in 2025, and two thought it should be less than 3%:

Yesterday, this was updated and became:

Now there are four members who think it should be over 4%, and none think it should be less than 3%. Most members now believe that the rate should be just below 4%.
The result is...