U.S. equity futures rebounded Friday after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams suggested the central bank could cut rates again in December. Contracts tied to the S&P 500 added 0.5%, while Nasdaq-100 futures advanced 0.4%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 254 points, or 0.6%. The comments by a notable Fed member like Williams broke the equity market out of its artificial intelligence-stock slump and raised traders’ bets that the central bank would in fact cut next month for the third time this year. Fed funds futures traders are currently pricing in a more than 70% chance of a quarter percentage point cut, a spike from the 39.1% likelihood priced in the day before, according to the CME FedWatch tool. “I view monetary policy as being modestly restrictive, although somewhat less so than before our recent actions,” Williams said in remarks for a speech in Santiago, Chile. “Therefore, I still see room for a further adjustment in the near term to the target range for the federal funds rate to move the stance of policy closer to the range of neutral, thereby maintaining the balance between the achievement of our two goals.” AI stocks, which were headed for another tough session before Williams’ comments, cut their losses in premarket trading. Nvidia and AMD both turned positive to gain around 1%. Investors hope easier monetary policy can revive a sluggish economy and justify historically high tech-stock valuations. Stock benchmarks are coming off a brutal market reversal in the last session and are still headed for big losses this week. The Dow at one point on Thursday rose more than 700 points as investors cheered a blockbuster Nvidia fiscal third-quarter earnings report. The benchmark, along with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, ended the day sharply lower as the Nvidia rally fizzled and worries grew that the Fed would stand pat in December on rates. The S&P 500 is still down 2.9% week to date, while the Dow has declined almost 3%. The Nasdaq has shed 3.6%. Some investors believe that Thursday’s market dip is not a sign of a deeper decline, but rather a normal pullback following strong gains earlier in the year. “At the start of the month things were getting a tad frothy, but now with the past three weeks of frustration for investors, various signs of sentiment are flashing extreme levels of fear and worry. From a contrarian point of view, this was necessary to shake out any weak hands,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group. On Friday, bitcoin dropped roughly 3%, putting its week-to-date losses at more than 11%. The cryptocurrency has fallen to levels not seen since April as investors have pulled back on their risk-taking in the market. Treasury yields were lower on Friday as investors contemplated the latest developments surrounding the Federal Reserve’s interest rate outlook. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury fell more than 4 basis points to trade at 4.059%. Yields across the maturity curve ticked lower, with the 2-year Treasury yield shedding more than 5 basis points to 3.501% and the longer-term 30-year Treasury’s yield being down more than 2 basis points at 4.706%. Asia-Pacific markets fell Friday, after U.S. tech stocks lost ground and investors’ hopes of a December rate cut by the Federal Reserve faded. Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbled 2.4% to close at 48,625.88, while the Topix index ended the day flat. South Korea’s Kospi index pared losses to fall 3.79% and close at 3,853.26, and the small-cap Kosdaq retreated 3.14% to 863.95. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.59% to 8,416.5. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.38% to close at 25,220.02, while the Hang Seng Tech index ended 3.21% lower at 5,395.49. The mainland’s CSI 300 continued to decline to end 2.44% at 4,453.6. Oil prices extended declines and energy stocks fell on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump pushed for a peace deal to end the long-running Russia-Ukraine war. International benchmark Brent crude futures with January expiry slipped 0.9% to $62.81 per barrel at 1:43 p.m. London time (8:43 a.m. ET), paring earlier losses. The contract dipped 0.2% in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures with January expiry were last seen 1.2% lower at $58.33, after closing Thursday off 0.5%. Gold prices fell more than 1% on Friday and were set for a weekly decline after a robust U.S. jobs report dampened expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut next month, weighing on the non-yielding metal. Spot gold fell 0.7% to $4,047.14 per ounce, as of 0909 GMT, after falling more than 1% earlier in the session. Bullion has dipped 0.5% this week. U.S. gold futures for December delivery fell 0.4% to $4,044.50 per ounce.