FX.co ★ US Stocks Hold Increase After Fed

US stocks closed mostly higher on Wednesday, led by a rebound in the technology sector, as investors weighed how the economy will absorb the latest Federal Reserve rate increase. The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and the Nasdaq 100 advanced 1%, while the Dow slipped just below the flatline. As widely anticipated, the Fed raised interest rates by 25 bps, and the median projections from FOMC members pointed to one or two additional hikes this year, reflecting expectations that inflation will remain elevated and unemployment low.

Chipmakers and hardware manufacturers extended Tuesday’s rebound, recovering from the pullback sparked by AI safety concerns raised by Anthropic and OpenAI, which had threatened to derail the surge in hyperscaler capital expenditure. Intel, Marvell, and Dell each climbed more than 5%, while Nvidia and AMD gained around 3%. Meanwhile, bank, retail, and pharmaceutical stocks were also broadly higher.