The Dow Jones rose more than 400 points on Wednesday after minutes of the September 17-18 Fed meeting showed that officials agreed to a half-point interest rate cut. Despite being divided over the economic outlook and unsure how aggressive to be, the Fed cut 50 basis points – the first in more than four years.
Investors are now focusing on this week’s upcoming inflation report, which is expected to provide more insight into the direction of the economy.
In the late afternoon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 410 points, or 1.08%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq and S&P 500 were up 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively. Oil prices also fell, pushing the international benchmark Brent crude closer to $72 a barrel.
Alphabet shares disappear after filing with DOJ
Shares of Google parent company Alphabet (GOOG) fell more than 2% as the Justice Department may consider breaking up Google after a federal judge ruled in August that the tech giant monopolized the online search engine market.
To address Google’s monopoly, the Justice Department said in a court filing Tuesday that it will find solutions that could prevent and limit any current and future maintenance of the company’s dominance in the search market.
Nvidia’s market capitalization surpasses Microsoft again
Nvidia (NVDA) stock appears to be climbing back to June’s record high. Shares of the AI chipmaker rose nearly 1% at the open Wednesday. Nvidia’s rising stock price has once again pushed its market cap past that of Microsoft (MSFT).
In Wednesday morning trading, the chipmaker’s market capitalization reached $3.26 trillion, while Microsoft’s was $3.09 trillion. Both lagged behind Apple’s (AAPL) market cap of $3.44 trillion. In June, Nvidia briefly surpassed Apple in total market capitalization, crossing the $3 trillion threshold for the first time. Just weeks later, it overtook both Apple and Microsoft to become the most valuable publicly traded company in the world at the time.
Boeing shares fall as the strike continues
Boeing (BA-2.41%) withdrew its latest offer to union machinists on Tuesday after negotiations broke down as their strike entered its fourth week. The Arlington, Virginia-based company’s offer – which it called its “best and final proposal” – included a 30% pay increase for the 33,000 factory workers who have been on the picket line since September 13 after rejecting a tentative labor agreement.
–Rocio Fabbro, William Gavin and Britney Nguyen contributed to this article.
For the latest news, Facebook, Tweet and Instagram.
