Wall Street is heading towards a steady close

(ABM FN-Dow Jones) US stock markets recorded nearly an hour and a half before the closing bell on Wednesday.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index settled at 4,187.97 points, the Dow Jones Index lost 0.4 percent at 33,864.83 points, and the Nasdaq index lost 0.1 percent at 14,078.66 points.

The focus of Wednesday’s trading day was the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision. As expected, the US central bank maintained key interest rates, and so did the bond repurchase program. As expected, the federal funds rate remained at 0.00 to 0.25 percent. The discount rate was kept at 0.25%. In addition, the Fed continues to purchase a total of $ 120 billion in Treasury and mortgage-related loans every month to keep financial markets stable and support the US economy.

The US central bank has reiterated that it will continue to use its full suite of tools to support the US economy to maximize employment and achieve long-term inflation targets at 2%.

The Fed said it intends to maintain this accommodative monetary policy until these results are achieved.

On the macroeconomic front, it was also announced on Wednesday that the number of mortgage applications in the US decreased by 2.5 percent last week. The market index decreased from 724.8 to 706.6.

The EUR / USD is trading at 1.2106. At the start of the trading day in New York, the currency pair was still trading at 1.2067 and close to the US stock market close on Tuesday, there was a 1.2090 level on the boards.

Oil rose 1.6 percent on Wednesday after the latest data from the US Energy Agency showed that crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 0.1 million barrels to 493.1 million barrels in the week ending April 23.

On the macroeconomic front, there are three publications on the agenda in the US on Thursday. Weekly help requests and first-quarter economic growth numbers will be published in advance, followed by upcoming home sales in March.

Company news

Spotify posted a small profit in the first quarter, thanks to more users and increased sales. However, the growth in the number of users was at the minimum expected. The stock fell 11.1 percent.

On Tuesday after the market, Microsoft, among others, came up with numbers. The stock lost 3.0 percent, despite exceeding analysts’ earnings expectations. CEO Satya Nadella said that after a year of the pandemic, the demand for digital solutions is still not slowing down. “It’s accelerating, and that’s just the beginning,” the CEO said.

Alphabet’s numbers were better received after the tech giant posted record sales. The share rose 4.2 percent. The search engine giant reported a net profit of $ 17.9 billion in the first quarter, or $ 26.29 a share, from $ 6.9 billion the previous year. Sales increased 34% from $ 41 billion to $ 55 billion. Analysts had mainly expected earnings per share of $ 18.05 and revenues of $ 42.5 billion.

Apple is scaling back its AirPods as the demand for these “earbuds” has decreased. Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported this Wednesday, citing sources. It will reduce production by 30 percent. The share fell 0.3 percent in the run-up to its after-market quarterly figures.

Starbucks increased its forecast for this year after a better quarterly result. The coffee company is now targeting sales of $ 28.5 to 29.3 billion, instead of $ 28.0 to 29.0 billion. The stock lost 3.4 percent.

Advanced Micro Devices raised its revenue forecast for the year, after quarterly earnings came in line with expectations and increased sales strongly. The stock fell 0.8 percent.

In addition to Apple, eBay, Facebook, Grubhub, Qualcomm, and GlaxoSmithKline also come in numbers.

ABM Financial News; [email protected]; Revised text: +31 (0) 20 26 28999.