Fed rates unchanged: Here's how S&P 500, Wall Street, Nasdaq, Dow Jones reacted to Jerome Powell's announcement
Published on: Jul 30, 2025 11:54 pm IST
The Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged for the fifth straight meeting.
The Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged for the fifth straight meeting. On Wednesday, the Jerome Powell-led department gave no signals for its plans to lower rates in September despite criticism from President Donald Trump. The Fed’s benchmark short-term rate is now at 4.5% from 4.25% last month.
How did the stock market react after Fed’s announcement?
The S&P 500 edged up 0.2% on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, as anticipated. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added just 28 points, or 0.1%.
Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that any future rate cuts will be guided by economic data. The decision was not unanimous, with governors Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller dissenting.
“We typically view Fed Chair Powell’s presser as a wild card with potentially higher drama today,” Wolfe Research’s Chris Senyek told CNBC, pointing to recent pro-cut comments from Waller and Bowman.
Meanwhile, a stronger-than-expected GDP report did little to distract Wall Street from Fed speculation and corporate earnings. The US economy expanded at a 3% annual rate in Q2, surpassing economists’ 2.3% forecast, according to the Commerce Department.
One gainer on Wednesday was Reddit, which rose more than 2%. In the bond market, Treasury yields gave back some of their gains from the morning, when a report suggested the US economy’s growth was much stronger during the spring than economists expected. It grew at a 3% annual rate, according to an advance estimate, a full percentage point more than forecast. But underlying trends beneath the surface may be more discouraging.
“Cutting through the noise of the swings in imports, the economy is still chugging along, but it is showing signs of sputtering,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.
(With inputs from AP)