Dow Jones, major indices rise as Fed holds rates steady, Powell warns of trade and inflation risks

By: bitcoin ethereum news|2025/05/08 13:45:01
0
Share
copy
U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged and Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged growing uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook. The S&P 500 edged up 0.43%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.27% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 284 points, or 0.7%. Disney helped lift the Dow after reporting better-than-expected earnings and a surprise jump in Disney+ streaming subscribers. As expected, the Fed left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a range of 4.25%-4.5%, where it has been since December. However, the tone of the post-meeting statement and Powell’s press conference pointed to growing concerns that inflation could remain sticky while the economy slows. “The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate,” the Fed said in its statement, adding that “the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.” Powell echoed those concerns, saying, “My gut tells me that uncertainty about the economy is extremely elevated,” though he emphasized that the negative outcomes had not yet materialized. Trade policies The Fed’s cautious stance comes as the Trump administration doubles down on protectionist trade policies. On Wednesday, former President Donald Trump told reporters he would not reduce tariffs on Chinese imports ahead of upcoming U.S.-China trade talks in Switzerland. “Large increases in tariffs could lead to a slowdown in growth, an uptick in long-term inflation, and an increase in unemployment,” Powell said. Markets also reacted to a Bloomberg report that Trump’s team may lift Biden-era restrictions on AI chip exports, which boosted Nvidia shares by about 2%. However, Apple and Alphabet weighed on the Nasdaq, with Alphabet sliding roughly 8% after a report suggested Apple may end its default search engine partnership with Google in Safari, opting instead for its own AI-powered search tools. Source: https://crypto.news/dow-jones-major-indices-rise-as-fed-holds-rates-steady-powell-warns-of-trade-and-inflation-risks/

You may also like

Particle Founder: The entrepreneurial insights I have gained the most from in the past year

Stop lean startup, stop lightning entrepreneurship, and think carefully about what your product aspirations are.

Huang Renxun's latest podcast transcript: The future of Nvidia, the development of embodied intelligence and agents, the explosion of inference demand, and the public relations crisis of artificial intelligence

The competition in the future is not just about whose model is larger or whose computing power is stronger, but also about who understands the industry better, who can embed AI more deeply into real processes, and who can organize these capabilities into a runnable and scalable system.

OKX Ventures Research Report: AI Agent Economic Infrastructure Research Report (Part 1)

The existing infrastructure is hostile to the Agent economy. Agents can think and act independently at the "capability level," but at the "economic level," they are still locked into infrastructure designed for humans.

The migration of settlement rights: B18 and the institutional starting point of on-chain banks

In the traditional system, banks decide the settlement; in the on-chain system, code begins to take over this responsibility.

From Tencent and Circle: Looking at the Simple and Difficult Questions of Investment

The AI narrative continues to ferment, but the recent performance of related stocks varies, with some in the midst of summer and others as if in winter.

The second half of stablecoins no longer belongs to the crypto circle

What Coinbase doesn't want, Mastercard is eager to buy.

Popular coins

Latest Crypto News

Read more