S&P 500 futures rose on Wednesday in New York before the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates and earnings reports from large technology companies. Futures for the broad market index increased by 0.3%. However, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 27 points, or 0.1%.
Shares in ASML, a company that makes semiconductor equipment, increased by more than 5%. This rise followed news of record orders due to the demand from artificial intelligence. Seagate Technology, which provides storage solutions, saw its shares jump more than 9% after strong earnings in the second quarter, driven by high demand for data storage linked to artificial intelligence.
China approved companies like ByteDance and Alibaba to buy Nvidia’s H200 AI chips. This news also helped Nvidia shares rise by about 2%. Other semiconductor companies like Advanced Micro Devices and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing saw similar gains.
Later in the day, many expect the Federal Reserve to keep its interest rate steady between 3.5% and 3.75%. Investors hope to hear clues about future changes in monetary policy. Many technology giants, including Microsoft and Tesla, will release their earnings soon. The S&P 500 has recently hit a record high, while the Dow saw a drop, affected by a significant fall in UnitedHealth shares.
Vocabulary List:
- Futures /ˈfjuː.tʃərz/ (noun): Contracts to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined future date and price.
- Demand /dɪˈmænd/ (noun): The desire of consumers to purchase goods and services.
- Approval /əˈpruː.vəl/ (noun): The act of officially agreeing to something.
- Earnings /ˈɜrnɪŋz/ (noun): Money obtained in return for labor or services.
- Monetary /ˈmʌn.ɪˌtɛr.i/ (adjective): Related to money or currency.
- High /haɪ/ (adjective): Of great vertical extent; above the normal or average level.
