NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting higher as the countdown ticks toward this afternoon’s announcement from the Federal Reserve on what it will do with interest rates. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% early Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 44 points, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%. The day’s highlight will likely be what the Fed says, if anything, about where interest rates are heading. The Fed raised its main interest rate last month
for the first time in three years in hopes of slowing the high inflation that’s squeezing the economy. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back for updates. AP’s earlier story follows below.
HONG KONG (AP) — Tech stocks have surged this week ahead of Wednesday's meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve with markets anticipating no change to the benchmark U.S. interest rate, at least not yet.
The rapid-growth tech sector is fueled by easy access to credit and hyperscalers like Microsoft and Alphabet will post quarterly earnings reports after the bell. Amazon and Intel release earnings Thursday.
The tech rally continued before the opening bell Wednesday as futures for the Nasdaq, already up 2% this week, rose 0.4%. Futures for the S&P 500 edged up 0.1%, while those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 144 points, or 0.3%.
The Fed is in a bind, however, with higher energy prices from the conflict in the Middle East intensifying inflation. Benchmark U.S. crude rose more than 2% early Wednesday after an attack on a major Saudi Arabian refinery by Iran-backed Houthi rebels this week.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, is also up almost 2% to $111.38 a barrel.
Alphabet is up almost 2% early and Microsoft is essentially flat. Memory chipmaker SK Hynix jumped 11.4% to its highest level in two weeks after it reported a record-high operating profit of 83.3 trillion won ($62.8 billion) for the last quarter, up nearly sevenfold from a year earlier and beating market estimates.
In other early trading, the cryptocurrency platform Robinhood is down sharply after its quarterly profit fell short of expectations. Stellantis rose 6% after the automaker stood by its guidance for the year despite heavy costs related to its turnaround bid.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX edged up less than 0.1% to 25,598.39, while the CAC 40 in Paris declined 0.1% to 7,876.05. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to 10,656.49.
In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi surged 6.6% to close at 6,012.44.
The Bank of Japan begins a two-day policy meeting on Thursday, with markets expecting its benchmark interest rate to be unchanged.
Treasury yields are relatively steady before the Federal Reserve announces its decision on interest rates. The Fed last month hiked the fed funds rate for the first time in three years in hopes of slowing inflation, but the widespread expectation on Wall Street is that it will hold rates steady this time.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, an important indicator on inflation for the Fed, edged up 0.25% to 5.0% early Wednesday.
The U.S. dollar slid to 157.92 Japanese yen from 157.95 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1128, up from $1.1126.
