The S&P 500 reached a milestone level on Wednesday, hitting 7,000 for the first time before pulling back, continuing to see pressure after the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate decision.
The Dow Jones Industrials held onto gains of 12.31 points to close Wednesday at 49,015.72.
The much-broader index eased 0.56 points to 6,978.04.
The NASDAQ regained 40.35 points to 23,857.45.
The broader market’s earlier rise was bolstered by gains in chip stocks following upbeat earnings results.
The Fed kept its benchmark interest rate steady at a target range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Traders will now be looking for hints on longer-term changes to monetary policy. Fed funds futures trading suggests two quarter percentage point cuts by the end of 2026.
Among chip stocks, Seagate Technology shares jumped 20% after the storage infrastructure company’s second-quarter earnings and revenue topped analyst expectations, with CEO Dave Mosley citing strong demand for artificial intelligence data storage.
Additionally, semiconductor equipment giant ASML reported record orders and issued rosy 2026 guidance due to the AI boom. However, the stock reversed its gains from earlier Wednesday.
Beyond those earnings, China has given approval to ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent to buy Nvidia’s H200 AI chips, Reuters reported Wednesday. Nvidia shares rose more than 1%. Fellow semiconductor names Micron Technology and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing saw gains as well.
Meanwhile, earnings from a slate of major technology companies are on deck. Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Tesla are set to post their quarterly financial results Wednesday after the closing bell. Apple will post its results on Thursday.
Outside tech, Starbucks shares were marginally higher after the coffee chain reported that its traffic grew for the first time in two years. Its first-quarter revenue also beat expectations, while its earnings missed.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury slid a bit, raising yields to 4.25% from Tuesday’s 4.23%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added $1.04 to $63.43 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices popped $301.70 to $5,383.20.
