The Federal Reserve held its benchmark interest rate steady at 3.75% to 4.00%, as the FOMC voted 10-2 on Wednesday. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said the committee remains focused on price stability and inflation, and has "shown our willingness to act" if circumstances change. The announcement supported stock gains, though indexes weakened late in the session.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 7,743, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2% to 52,475, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.3% to 26,549. The 2-year Treasury yield fell 3.1 basis points to 4.706%, while the 10-year rose 3.3 basis points to 5.024% and the 30-year added 4.6 basis points to 5.351%.
Oil prices increased on Middle East tensions. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 2.7% to $102.56 per barrel, and Brent crude added 1.8% to $111.40.
The Fed also signaled a change to its meeting schedule. In 2027, one of eight meetings will skip a policy decision to allow deeper strategic discussions on monetary policy. In 2028, two of eight meetings will likely follow that same format.
Vertiv Holdings, which makes cooling systems for data centers, surged 16.5% after reporting greater than 100% organic order growth in the third quarter and beating revenue and earnings estimates. Oppenheimer analyst Noah Kaye reiterated an Outperform rating and $325 12-month target price. Alphabet and Microsoft will report earnings after the close.