Investing.com-- The S&P 500 closed lower Wednesday as investors weighed the Federal Reserve's hawkish pause on rates just ahead of a string of earnings from big tech this week.
At 4:00 p.m. ET (21:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 137 points, or 0.3%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.5%, and the NASDAQ Composite dropped 0.5%.
The Federal Reserve kept its interest rates on hold, but in hawkish tilt the the reference to inflation making progress towards their 2% target-- that was included in prior December meting statement-- had been removed.
Following the FOMC statement, traders have adjusted their expectations for less easing from the Federal Reserve this year.
"Most importantly, the language describing the balance of risks and the policy guidance leaves options open for cutting again in the future, pausing for any length or time, or even raising rates again in the future," Jefferies said in a Wednesday note.
Major tech industry players -- and recent stock market drivers -- are set to report this week.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ), Facebook-owner Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META ), and electric vehicle maker Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA ) are due to report after the closing bell on Wall Street on Wednesday, followed by iPhone-manufacturer Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) on Thursday.
The four companies are all part of the so-called "Magnificent 7" collection of large tech firms which have underpinned strong gains in stock markets over much of the past two years.
AI will likely be a central topic for analysts as they pour through the numbers, especially after Monday's DeepSeek-inspired rout in equities. Silicon Valley executives have previously stated their intent to shell out billions of dollars on developing their AI infrastructure, all in a bid to eventually monetize the nascent technology.
Sentiment on chip stocks, meanwhile, continued to improve following selloff earlier this week as Dutch chipmaker ASML Holding NV (AS: ASML ) ADR (NASDAQ: ASML ) reported quarterly results that topped Wall Street estimates underlying a strong demand.
T-Mobile US (NASDAQ: TMUS ) stock soared over 6% after the telecom giant forecast annual wireless subscriber growth above expectations, after holiday-quarter promotions and deals boosted demand for its affordable premium 5G plans with streaming bundles.
Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX ) stock rose 8% after the world’s largest coffee chain reported better-than-expected sales in its fiscal first quarter as some of its turnaround efforts start to deliver results.
Trump Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ: DJT ) stock rose nearly 7% after the ruth Social parent company announced Wednesday that it is expanding into financial services, including investment products.
The company said its board of directors has approved the launch of a new financial services and FinTech brand, Truth.Fi.
(Peter Nurse, Ayushman Ojha, and Senad Karaahmetovic contributed to this article.)