The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that North American indexes enjoyed gains on Wednesday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the way as it closed at a record high, driven by Nvidia briefly hitting a $4-trillion (U.S.) valuation. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting raised hopes that inflationary pressures resulting from President Donald Trump's tariffs would not prevent interest rate cuts later this year. The minutes for the mid-June meeting showed that most Fed officials said they expect rate cuts will be appropriate later this year, with price shocks from Mr. Trump's import taxes expected to be "temporary or modest." However, there was little support for a rate cut at the end of July meeting. In San Antonio, Tex., SWBC's Chris Brigati says: "Fed officials suggested that they believe inflation will be higher down the road. At the same time, many or most officials suggested that they expect lower interest rates at some point this year. Those two things don't match. Perhaps they're starting to put a little bit more weight into what's going on with the labour market." Meanwhile, the S&P/TSX Composite Index ended at 26,972.32, up 68.75.