Wall Street today: S&P 500, Nasdaq sharply higher on chip stocks rally, investors eye Fed decision

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were sharply higher after chip stocks rallied following bullish forecast from AMD.

At 9:54 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 33.60 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 40,709.73, the S&P 500 was up 65.74 points, or 1.21 per cent, at 5,502.18, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 347.43 points, or 2.03 per cent, at 17,494.85.

At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25.5 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 40,768.88. The S&P 500 rose 69.2 points, or 1.27 per cent, to 5,505.59, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 351.8 points, or 2.05 per cent, to 17,499.231.

The Federal Reserve will announce its monetary policy decision later in the day, followed by Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference.

Among the chip stocks, Advanced Micro Devices climbed 10.1 per cent after reporting better quarterly profit and revenue, and Nvidia surged 10.2 per cent.

The broader Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index was up 5.0 per cent.

Among the megacaps, Apple gained 0.9 per cent, Meta Platforms added 1.5 per cent and Amazon.com up 2.0 per cent.

Microsoft stock fell 1.4 per cent despite reporting better than expected earnings for the second quarter.

Mastercard gained 4.2 per cent after the payments giant's second quarter profit rose 17 per cent.

Pinterest slumped 10.1 per cent after forecasting current quarter revenue below expectations.

DuPont stock rose 3.9 per cent after its earnings report.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.10 per cent from 4.14 per cent late on Tuesday.

Bullion

Gold prices strengthened on Wednesday on worries of escalation in Middle East war after the killing of a Hamas leader in Iran.

Spot gold was up 0.5 per cent at $2,420.00 per ounce, as of 1147 GMT. US gold futures were up 0.6 per cent to $2,418.10.

Spot silver was up 0.8 per cent at $28.62 per ounce.

Crude oil

Oil prices climbed around $2 on Wednesday, as the killing of a Hamas leader in Iran ratcheted up tensions in the Middle East.

Brent crude futures were up $1.95, or 2.5 per cent, to $80.58 a barrel by 1331 GMT ahead of expiry on Wednesday. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up $2.23, or 3 per cent, to $76.96 a barrel.