Wall Street held steady after the Federal Reserve followed through on expectations and raised its benchmark interest rate to its highest level in more than two decades. Treasury yields fell following Wednesday's announcement, which traders hope will mark the final increase of this cycle, the AP reports. The S&P 500 closed just barely lower, falling 0.71 points, less than 0.1%, to 4,566.75. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 82.05 points, or 0.2%, to 35,520.12. The Nasdaq composite fell 17.27 points, or 0.1%, to 14,127.28.
Alphabet helped to lift the market after it rose 5.8%. The parent company of Google and YouTube reported better profit and revenue for the spring than analysts expected. That helped to offset a 3.8% drop for Microsoft. It fell despite also reporting better profit and revenue for the spring than expected. Analysts said the company made comments that were perhaps intended to rein in huge expectations for upcoming growth from artificial intelligence. Investors also may have been hoping to hear more about when slowing growth at its Azure cloud computing business will trough.
Seven stocks alone accounted for most of the S&P 500's returns through the first half of this year, largely on expectations that their explosive growth will continue. They'll need to deliver big profits to justify those gains. Another member of the "Magnificent Seven" that's overshadowed the rest of the market will report its results after trading closes for the day, Meta Platforms. The stock has more than doubled so far this year, while Alphabet and Microsoft are both up roughly 40%. Boeing, meanwhile, was helping to prop up the Dow, which has less of an emphasis on Big Tech than the S&P 500. The aircraft maker reported a smaller loss for the spring than analysts expected, and revenue topped expectations. Boeing's stock rose 8.7%.
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