The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Dec. 3, edition that U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday to record their sixth gain in seven sessions in muted trading, buoyed by gains in technology shares as expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week remain elevated. An unbylined item in The Globe reports that equities declined on Monday amid soft data on the manufacturing sector, a jump in U.S. Treasury yields as Japanese bond yields surged, and a drop in bitcoin and crypto-related stocks. But with a dearth of economic data for Tuesday's session, the rise in bond yields eased and bitcoin rebounded, which enabled stocks to recover somewhat as the focus shifted to the Fed. Baird analyst Ross Mayfield says: "It's possible that both of those things are adding a little bit of volatility to the market at a time when there's kind of a catalyst vacuum until the Fed. On the flip side, it seems like largely you can take away positive consumer read-throughs on some of these Black Friday, Cyber Monday, data points. I'm more content or happier to see the strength in the consumer versus some of these things happening under the surface with yields and bitcoin. Those are things that will pass."