US: Stocks end higher on Wednesday as Fed meeting holds no surprises

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks finished higher on Wednesday following a choppy session as the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, while Google-parent Alphabet tumbled on worries about its namesake search engine.

The Fed, as expected, announced another pause in rate cuts amid uncertainty over the effects of President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.

Stocks meandered during a press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell in which the central bank chief reiterated his independence from the White House and pointed to a “great deal of uncertainty” about tariffs and the economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.7 per cent at 41,113.97.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.4 per cent to 5,631.28, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.3 per cent at 17,738.16.

Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments said markets were still looking for the next “bullish catalyst” after the Fed event as investors await trade deals involving the United States and major trading partners.

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Senior US and Chinese officials are expected to meet later in the week in Switzerland.

“Today the market just yawned at the Fed,” Sarhan said. “Nothing really changed.”

Among individual companies, Alphabet sank 7.5 per cent after Apple executive Eddy Cue told a US court that the Google search engine’s traffic fell on Apple products last month, a sign it is losing out to AI alternatives such as ChatGPT or Perplexity.

Disney surged 10.7 per cent after reporting a big jump in quarterly revenues following strong growth in its subscriber count for its Disney+ streaming service.

The entertainment giant also announced plans for a new theme park in the United Arab Emirates. AFP