The Federal Reserve Just Made Dubious History That Can Lead to a Crisis of Confidence on Wall Street in the New Year

Although it's been a year filled with twists and turns, Wall Street's major stock indexes have continued their trek higher. The ageless Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI 0.51% ) , broad-based S&P 500 ( ^GSPC 1.07% ) , and growth stock-dominated Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC 1.69% ) have rallied 13%, 17%, and 22% on a year-to-date basis, as of the closing bell on Dec. 10.

Hot trends have been a significant theme, once again, in propelling this bull market to new heights. The rise of artificial intelligence and quantum computing, coupled with a handful of blockbuster stock splits, has kept the embers of optimism burning bright among investors.

Further, investors have been excited about the prospect of future interest rate cuts. Although the Federal Reserve has come t