After four days of retreat, U.S. markets found their footing on Friday as oil prices eased and the Federal Reserve offered something markets hunger for more than favorable conditions — certainty. The paradox of the moment was telling: traders welcomed the prospect of higher interest rates not because the news was good, but because ambiguity had proven more costly than clarity. In the larger human story of markets, this episode reminds us that confidence is often less about outcomes than about knowing what one is navigating toward.