Wall Street holds gains amid choppy trading post-FOMC decision

The S&P 500 largely maintained its gains on Wednesday, despite choppy trading as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell kicked off his press conference. The US central bank had, as anticipated, kept interest rates unchanged while praising the strength of the economy.

In a policy statement that acknowledged the unexpected strength of the US economy while acknowledging the tighter financial circumstances that both consumers and businesses were facing, the Fed kept interest rates unchanged while leaving the door open for future hikes.

As anticipated, the Fed maintained its rate schedule while making a few small, unremarkable tweaks to its statement. Investors were expected to closely follow Powell’s news conference.

Powell’s remarks will be closely monitored by investors. There will be attempts to interpret it. Is there a bias in favour of easing or tightening? Some economists believe that in an attempt to determine whether the next meeting will be in person, everyone will try to cut and dice his words.

The S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 20.88 points, or 0.50%, to 4,214.68, the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) gained 96.25 points, or 0.75%, to 12,947.48, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) increased by 105.95 points, or 0.32%, to 33,158.82.

The Federal Reserve is keen to allow room for more rate hikes in December or early in the following year. “They did make some wording changes, two of which represent the view that the economy is actually stronger than it was at the previous statement,” Hazen added, adding that the Fed now refers to job gains as “moderated” rather than “slowed.”

The U.S. Treasury Department announced earlier that it will slow the rate of increases in its longer-dated debt auctions in the November–January quarter and anticipates needing one more quarter of increases after this to meet its financing needs. This news caused the stock market to gain earlier due to falling bond yields.

Even though 79.7% of the 310 S&P 500 companies that had reported at the time of LSEG’s most recent update had surpassed analyst expectations for the quarter and only 16.1% had fallen short of estimates, earnings has been a mixed bag for stocks. Investor disappointment persisted despite numerous quarterly updates.

Despite exceeding projections for quarterly profit, CVS Health’s stock dropped due to elevated medical expenses at its health insurance company. Shares of Estee Lauder fell after the manufacturer of cosmetics lowered its predicted annual profit.

Paycom Software, the payroll processor software, saw its stock retreating after releasing its lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue forecast. Owner of Tinder, Match Group, suffered a loss after predicting lower-than-expected revenue for the Q4.