U.S. stock futures pushed higher Wednesday morning, building on Tuesday's solid gains as traders settled in for a shortened holiday week. Markets will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving and open only until 1:00 p.m. ET on Friday, giving everyone just enough time to work off some turkey before the weekend.

The morning's advance marked the third consecutive day of gains, with futures across major benchmark indices all trading in positive territory. And why not? The Federal Reserve appears ready to deliver another rate cut, and corporate earnings continue to paint a picture that's complicated but generally encouraging.

Traders are now aggressively pricing in a December rate cut following recent dovish signals from the central bank. The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.01% while the two-year bond sat at 3.46%. According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, markets are now pricing in an 84.9% likelihood that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its December meeting. That's not quite a sure thing, but it's close enough that you'd happily take those odds in Vegas.

Here's how futures were shaping up in early trading:

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indices respectively, were both higher in premarket trading Wednesday. The SPY was up 0.29% at $677.01, while the QQQ advanced 0.36% to $611.10, according to market data.

Corporate Earnings Take Center Stage

The real action Wednesday morning came from individual stocks reacting to earnings reports, and the results provided a masterclass in why forward guidance matters far more than historical performance.

Dell Technologies Raises the Bar

Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL) jumped 4.94% after reporting mixed financial results for the third quarter Tuesday evening. The computer hardware giant delivered what really mattered though: a significantly raised full-year outlook. Dell now expects fiscal 2026 revenue in the range of $111.2 billion to $112.2 billion, up substantially from its prior range of $105 billion to $109 billion.

That's the kind of guidance revision that gets investors excited, and it shows Dell capitalizing on the ongoing AI infrastructure buildout that's been driving demand for servers and enterprise hardware.

HP Stumbles Despite Beating Estimates

HP Inc. (HPQ) tumbled 5.67% despite posting better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter after Tuesday's closing bell. The problem? The company announced layoffs and issued weak forward guidance, reminding everyone that beating last quarter's numbers doesn't mean much if you're telling investors next quarter looks rough.

It's a tale as old as public markets: companies can exceed expectations and still get hammered if the future looks dimmer than investors hoped.

Autodesk Soars on Strong Outlook

Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) climbed 7% following a third-quarter earnings and revenue beat that came with the kind of guidance investors dream about. The design software company guided for full-year revenue of $7.15 billion to $7.17 billion and raised its full-year adjusted earnings guidance to a new range of $10.18 to $10.25 per share, well above estimates of $9.95 per share.

When you beat estimates and then tell investors the party's going to keep going, the stock tends to react favorably. Autodesk proved that rule Wednesday morning.

Zscaler Falls Despite Solid Results

Zscaler Inc. (ZS) dropped 7.15% despite beating analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines and raising its fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS and revenue outlook. The cybersecurity company's decline illustrates the sometimes-irrational nature of market reactions, where even good news can get punished if investors were expecting great news or if the guidance increase wasn't quite generous enough.

Uber Launches Driverless Taxis

Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER) was up 0.73% after announcing the launch of Level 4 fully driverless robotaxi commercial operations in Abu Dhabi, in partnership with WeRide Inc. (WRD), which gained 1.52%. The move represents another step in Uber's evolution from ride-hailing app to autonomous vehicle platform, though the real test will be scaling these operations beyond pilot programs.

Tuesday's Market Performance

Looking back at Tuesday's session, communication services, health care, and consumer discretionary stocks recorded the biggest gains, leading most S&P 500 sectors into positive territory. The broad-based rally suggested investors remain comfortable adding risk ahead of the holiday.

Siegel Takes Aim at Trump's Tariff Strategy

Jeremy Siegel, the celebrated Wharton professor and author of Stocks for the Long Run, delivered a pointed critique of President Trump's trade strategies during a recent appearance on the Icons and Ideas podcast. Siegel argued that requiring businesses to petition the White House for tariff relief undermines fundamental free-market principles.

"I don't particularly like [that] you have to go to the court of Donald Trump to get [exemptions]… that's not good capitalism," Siegel said. "That's not good free markets as far as I'm concerned."

The professor's complaint gets at something fundamental: when companies need to lobby the president directly for exemptions from trade restrictions, you've moved away from market-based economics and toward something that looks more like favor-trading. It's the kind of system where connections matter more than efficiency, and that's rarely good for overall economic productivity.

Still, Siegel isn't turning bearish. While he classifies the tariffs as "net a negative" for the U.S. economy, he remains optimistic about the broader market. The protectionist downsides, he believes, are outweighed by pro-business moves such as deregulation and a retreat from what he called the Biden administration's "crazy antitrust" stance.

"The deregulation… the less fervent anti-merger movement… that offsets, more than offsets, the negative of the tariffs," he concluded.

It's a pragmatic view: yes, tariffs are economically inefficient and potentially corrupting when handed out via White House favor, but if the overall regulatory environment becomes significantly more business-friendly, that might matter more for corporate profits and stock prices.

Economic Data on Deck

Investors will be watching for a couple of data releases Wednesday morning before the holiday break kicks in:

• Initial jobless claims data for the week ending Nov. 22 and September's delayed durable-goods orders data will be announced by 8:30 a.m. ET.
• No data is scheduled for release on the Thanksgiving holiday Thursday.

The jobless claims numbers have been remarkably stable recently, suggesting the labor market remains resilient despite higher interest rates. Any surprise movement could shift expectations around the Federal Reserve's December decision, though at this point it would take a fairly dramatic reading to change the prevailing narrative.

Commodities and Crypto Update

Beyond equities, other markets were showing modest movement Wednesday morning.

Crude oil futures were trading slightly lower in the early New York session, down 0.22% to hover around $57.98 per barrel. Oil has been range-bound recently as traders weigh concerns about global economic growth against ongoing production discipline from major producers.

Gold Spot US Dollar rose 0.78% to hover around $4,163.00 per ounce, well below its record high of $4,381.6 per ounce. Gold has been volatile as investors reassess the outlook for interest rates and inflation. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.11% higher at the 99.7780 level.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading 0.07% higher at $86,938.43 per coin. The cryptocurrency has been consolidating after its recent rally, with traders seemingly content to hold positions heading into the holiday weekend.

Global Market Roundup

Asian markets closed higher Wednesday as India's NIFTY 50, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, Australia's ASX 200, China's CSI 300, Japan's Nikkei 225, and South Korea's Kospi indices all rose. The broad-based gains suggested global investors remain in risk-on mode despite ongoing economic uncertainties.

European markets were mostly higher in early trade, following Asia's lead and taking cues from positive U.S. futures.

As markets head into the Thanksgiving holiday, the overall tone remains cautiously optimistic. The Federal Reserve appears poised to cut rates again in December, corporate earnings continue to surprise positively more often than not, and the regulatory environment seems to be shifting in a more business-friendly direction. Sure, there are concerns about tariffs and global growth, but for now at least, investors seem willing to focus on the positives and worry about the negatives after they've had their turkey.