He hinted on Wednesday that the December rate hike could be more moderate than in November, while reiterating that more efforts are needed.

“The time for moderating the pace of rate increases may come as soon as the December meeting”, he said, but remained cautious.  "Despite the tighter policy and slower growth over the past year, we have not seen clear progress on slowing inflation (…)It is likely that restoring price stability will require holding policy at a restrictive level for some time.”

Traders are now betting on a 0.5% increase of the Fed's key rates, on December 14.

Meanwhile, oil stocks are down 1.5% as crude prices fell due to uncertainty ahead of Sunday's OPEC+ meeting.

Among stocks, education group Pearson decreased 3.5% after Exane BNP Paribas downgraded the stock’s rating to "neutral" from "outperform".

Consumer cyclical stocks got a boost, following the better-than-expected inflation reading in the Eurozone yesterday.

 

Things to read today:

Jerome Powell is no dove (Financial Times)

Stocks Gain for Second Month in a Row; Dow Exits Bear Market (WSJ)