Wall Street Hits Record Highs on Dovish Fed Bets

As of August 14, 2025, U.S. stock index futures are muted following a strong run on Wall Street this week. Investors are eagerly awaiting fresh economic data to gauge the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision next month.

Recent data has strengthened expectations that the central bank will lower interest rates in September, despite signs that underlying price pressures are on the rise. The anticipation of a dovish Fed has encouraged investors to embrace riskier equities, propelling the benchmark S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq to record highs over the past two sessions.

However, not everyone is convinced the Fed will act as aggressively as the market expects. Some analysts argue that the market is "too complacent" about the apparent certainty of a rate cut, especially with inflation remaining above the central bank's target for over four years.

Adding to the uncertainty, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly has pushed back against the need for a 50-basis-point rate cut next month, contradicting earlier comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggesting an aggressive half-point cut was possible.

Amid the mixed signals, investors are closely watching a string of economic data due later today, including weekly jobless claims and the Producer Price Index for July. These reports could provide further clues about the state of the economy and the Fed's policy path.

Notably, Cisco Systems has bucked the broader market trend, forecasting first-quarter revenue above estimates. The company's strong performance is attributed to the growing demand for its networking equipment from cloud customers, driven by the ongoing artificial intelligence boom.