U.S. equities climbed Wednesday, boosted by strong gains from Google-parent Alphabet and Microsoft, as traders awaited the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate decision, scheduled for later in the day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 162 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 gained 1%, and the Nasdaq Composite increased 1.6%.
Alphabet shares rose nearly 4% after the tech giant’s quarterly report showedstrong revenue from Google’s search business. That said, the company’s overall earnings and revenue came in below expectations.
Microsoft also postedearnings and revenue below analyst estimatesbut reported a 40% jump in revenue growth for Azure and cloud services. Shares popped 3.7%
Enphase Energyalso popped on the back of its latest results, trading 9.7% higher.Chipotlealso added 8% following itsmixed second-quarter earnings release.
Boeing rose about 3% even though its second quarter results fell short of analysts’ estimates as the companyposted positive operating cash flowand stuck to its forecast to return to free cash flow in this year.
There are more major earnings reports to come. On Wednesday,Qualcomm,FordandMeta Platformswill report at the end of the day.
More than 150 S&P 500 companies have reported calendar second-quarter earnings thus far. Of those names, roughly 70% have beaten analyst expectations, FactSet data shows.
Investors are also awaiting a key announcement from the Federal Reserve. The central bank will announce its latest interest rate decision on Wednesday afternoon. Markets widely expect a three-quarter percentage point increase in the benchmark rate.
“With so many moving parts to consider, we expect markets to remain volatile after the FOMC meeting,” wrote Mark Haefele of UBS Global Wealth Management. “With the markets anticipating a 3.3% fed funds rate by year-end, this means that after this week’s meeting, there may be around 100bps of rate hikes by end-December. But the pace of hikes remains uncertain.”