Markets on Wall Street were positioned to open at record highs Thursday after the Federal Reserve issued a bigger-than-usual interest rate cut intended to fortify a cooling labor market and prevent a recession.

Wall Street is finally confident it knows what the Federal Reserve will do at its policy meeting next week, and a bigger-than-expected interest rate cut may not be a welcome surprise.

Wall Street is hanging near its records after the Federal Reserve kicked off its efforts to prevent a recession with a bigger-than-usual cut to interest rates. The S&P 500 was