Meta & Microsoft AI Spending Impacts Stocks; Fed Holds Rates Steady

Tech Giants' AI Investment Impact

• 💡 Meta Platforms reported an earnings beat but saw its shares decline due to plans for increased spending on data centers and capital improvements for AI.
• 💻 Similarly, Microsoft experienced a stock drop despite strong performance from its Azure cloud services, attributed to its planned investments in AI.

Federal Reserve's Interest Rate Decision

• 🏦 The Federal Reserve decided to keep benchmark interest rates unchanged, as anticipated by policymakers.
• 📈 While noting improvements in the U.S. economy and labor market, the central bankers stated that inflation remains too high.

Wall Street Reaction

• 📊 Stock markets reacted modestly to the Fed's decision, with the Dow closing up 12 points, the Nasdaq up 40, and the S&P 500 down a fraction.
• 📉 The S&P 500 narrowly missed setting a new all-time closing high.