US stock futures holding green this Wednesday morning—Dow +77pts, S&P 500 +18, Nasdaq +107—as traders digest some surprisingly solid economic data ahead of the holiday break.

Jobless claims came in cooler than expected: 216K initial claims vs 225K forecast, with continuing claims steady at 1.96M. The labor market's basically on cruise control at this point—hasn't really moved in months. Could signal the Fed has less reason to keep cutting rates if job stability + consumer spending stay this strong.

Durable goods orders hit expectations at +0.5%, but here's the interesting bit: non-defense ex-aircraft goods jumped to +0.9% again. That's two months running at that level—potentially pointing to sustained AI infrastructure buildout as businesses keep deploying hardware.

Meanwhile, Deere & Co. just posted their first earnings miss in 3 years (-3 cents to $3.93 EPS), though revenues beat by 5.92%. Shares down -3.5% on the miss.

Bottom line: Market's basically pricing in "good news = higher rates stay longer" right now. Consumer still spending, jobs still solid, so don't expect the Fed to get aggressive with cuts anytime soon.