US stock market hits new record ahead of interest rates decision

The US stock market has hit record highs ahead of the Federal Reserve’s latest decision on interest rates.

The S&P 500, which tracks the stock performance of 500 of the largest publicly traded companies, gained 0.3 percent on Monday, closing at 5,360.79.

The Nasdaq Composite Index, which is heavily weighted towards tech giants such as Apple and Microsoft, rose 0.4 percent to 17,192.53.

Diamond Offshore Drilling and Southwest Airlines were among the market’s biggest individual gainers, surging 10.9 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

Among the major tech players, Microsoft, Amazon and Nvidia closed up 0.95 percent, 1.5 percent and 0.75 percent, respectively.

Apple declined by 1.9 percent after its long-awaited rollout of new AI features failed to impress investors.

Tesla, whose shareholders will on Thursday vote on whether to approve a record $56bn pay package for CEO Elon Musk, fell by 2.08 percent.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday but its commentary will be closely parsed for hints as to the direction of monetary policy.

The US central bank has held the benchmark rate at between 5.25 percent and 5.5 percent since July 2023, the highest level in more than two decades.

After its last meeting on May 1, the Fed said there had been a “lack of further progress” in bringing inflation towards its 2 percent target.

Source: Aljazeera.com