The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that North American stock markets extended their rally Tuesday as last week's dovish policy pivot from the Federal Reserve continued to reverberate and investors looked ahead to crucial U.S. inflation data. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that Canada's main stock index rose to an 18-month high, led by financial and forest product shares. Broad-based gains nudged the S&P 500 to within one percentage point of its all-time closing high reached in January, 2022. If the benchmark index closes above that level, that would confirm it has been in a bull market since bottoming in October, 2022. The blue-chip Dow nabbed another all-time closing high. Small-cap stocks have had a strong run in December, and that continued Tuesday with the Russell 2000 leading gainers, rising 1.9 per cent. The index has surged over 11.7 per cent in December so far. Financial markets are pricing in a 67.5-per-cent likelihood that the Fed will implement a 25-basis-point rate cut as soon as March. The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 216.92 at 20,839.63. The Toronto market has strengthened 11.5 per cent since October. Financials rose 1.3 per cent, while materials advanced 2.4 per cent.