The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points this week, for the third time in a row.  The new target for the federal funds rate is now 1.5 to 1.75 percent, which was what the equity markets were hoping for.   Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes hit intraday records today, catalyzed by the October jobs and payroll report released this morning. Payrolls contracted in October but not as much as in previous months’ reports, nor nearly as much as the pre-report expectations. Non-farm payroll increased 128,000 in October; the pre-report expectation was 85,000. This increase was despite the GM strike that took 42,000 jobs off the October monthly report.   Probably more important, however, was the c...