U.S. markets are closed today for Thanksgiving, but S&P 500 futures were flat this morning after the index closed up 0.69% yesterday, its fourth straight day of gains. Investors appear satisfied with the index’s current position, just 1% below its recent all-time high. Asian and European markets were flat or up; India’s Nifty 50 rose to an all-time high.

As we head into the December holiday season, investors have good reasons to be jolly: The macro data appears to be lining up perfectly to push the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in its final meeting of the year. The rarely wrong CME FedWatch futures index currently favors the chance of a cut to 3.5% at 85%.

The data fuelling investors’ confidence that the Fed is about to deliver a new round of cheaper money (a move which gene

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