Fed Holds Rates Steady, Oracle (ORCL.US) Surges 11% to Ignite Tech Stock Rally

Stock News09:11

According to Woofun AI, the New York stock market staged a broad rebound on the 28th (local time), driven primarily by the Federal Reserve's decision to freeze the benchmark interest rate and a concentrated release of positive news in the artificial intelligence sector.

The S&P 500 extended its prior momentum, achieving its third consecutive trading day of gains, closing at 7,743.98 points, up 21.38 points or 0.28% from the previous session.

This move signals that the market, after earlier volatility, has re-established an upward logic supported by both stable monetary policy expectations and the technology growth narrative.

On the macroeconomic policy front, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) maintained the benchmark interest rate in the 3.75%–4.00% range at its meeting, ending the tightening pace that followed last month's first 0.25% rate hike since 2023.

Although Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh emphasized at the press conference that price stability remains the top priority and gave a positive assessment of the employment situation, the market had already fully priced in this outcome through the CME FedWatch tool, with the probability of rates remaining unchanged before the meeting as high as 93%.

Jeff Schulze, chief investment strategist at the Franklin Templeton Institute, analyzed that while another 0.25% hike remains possible within the year, the current gradual tightening policy is relatively favorable for risk assets.

During the session, the major indices fluctuated briefly around the release of the monetary policy statement, but buying momentum surged rapidly in the afternoon, ultimately pushing all four major indices higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 97.53 points to close at 52,475.10, a gain of 0.19%; the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 72.04 points to close at 26,549.80, up 0.27%; and the ETF tracking small- and mid-cap stocks, the Russell 2000, also gained 1.18 points to 281.36, up 0.42%.

At the micro corporate level, technology stocks became the key engine driving the recovery in market sentiment.

Oracle (ORCL.US) was the standout performer of the day on the back of strong long-term business expectations, with its shares surging about 11.5%.

The company expects fiscal 2030 revenue to reach $225 billion and forecasts an average annual growth rate of 35% for the business.

More critically, the company said it will keep additional financing within $20 billion during the fiscal 2027 to 2030 period, and the expectation of clear long-term growth prospects with reduced financing pressure directly boosted investor confidence.

Woofun AI-compiled data shows the semiconductor sector also performed strongly, with SK Hynix reporting a record quarterly operating profit that drove its U.S.-listed shares up 13%.

In addition, Micron Technology (MU.US) shares rose 5.86%, Arm (ARM.US) gained 4.10%, Marvell Technology (MRVL.US) climbed more than 2%, and AMD (AMD.US) shares rose 3.24%.

The sector-wide strength reflects market expectations that increased AI infrastructure investment will strongly support demand for memory and semiconductor products.

After the regular trading session ended, market attention turned to the earnings results of Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.US) and Microsoft (MSFT.US) due later in the evening, with Alphabet shares up more than 1% while Microsoft shares slipped 0.06%, showing divergence.

Recently, volatility in AI-related technology stocks has increased amid concerns over the funding required for large-scale infrastructure investment and actual profitability.

Bill Northey, head of investments at U.S. Bank Asset Management Group (USB.US), believes the AI industry's short-term growth momentum remains strong, but whether it can sustain profitability over the long term is the key issue, and different companies may perform differently in this regard.

Overall, the day's gains on the New York stock market were the result of the Fed's rate freeze easing market concerns about tightening policy combined with AI-related corporate growth expectations supporting technology stocks.

However, since further rate hikes remain possible within the year, the future direction of monetary policy and the earnings performance of large technology companies will become key factors determining whether the stock market can continue to rise.

As market focus shifts from macroeconomic policy expectations to micro-level corporate earnings validation, investors need to pay close attention to the ability of leading technology companies to balance capital expenditure and profit margins in the upcoming earnings season, which will be the core touchstone for testing the sustainability of the AI investment narrative.

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