US stocks held their muted momentum on Tuesday afternoon, set to close the year relatively near recent record highs as markets assessed the outlook of robust economic growth and rate cuts by the Fed against concerns of exaggerated valuations for AI companies. The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Dow refrained from deviating too much from the flatline. Minutes from the Fed's latest meeting confirmed that the FOMC is divided on how to weigh conflicting risks of high higher inflation and unemployment next year, although there was broad consensus that there is still room for another rate cut. Some degree of volatility for miners prevailed as supply concerns and speculative bets lifted copper and silver futures toward record highs, lending some traction to Freeport-McMoRan. In the meantime, tech heavyweights were slightly lower as investors continued to assess the outlook of AI returns and datacenter investments into the upcoming year, taming concerns of a bubble in the sector.