Investors widely expect the U.S. central bank to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points later on Wednesday, with the focus likely to turn to how deeply signs of an economic slowdown have registered with its policymakers. read more Money market traders are even betting on a one-in-four chance that the Fed will surprise markets with a bigger 1 percentage point hike, according to CME Group’s Fedwatch tool. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register The decision is expected at 2:00 p.m. ET (1800 GMT) and will be followed by a press conference by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell a half hour later, where he is likely to explain how the central bank views the recent economic environment. “There’s a balancing act that needs to be done, if they do too much or too little, it’s going to hurt them, so they’re in a tough spot,” said Andre Bakhos, managing director of New Vines Capital. “The key is how it’s called and how they color what’s out there in the world, from the Fed’s eyes.” Microsoft Corp ( MSFT.O ) rose 5 percent after forecasting double-digit revenue growth for this fiscal year on demand for cloud computing services. read more Alphabet Inc ( GOOGL.O ) added 7.3 percent as better-than-expected sales of Google search ads eased concerns about a slowing ad market. read more The S&P 500 communications services index (.SPLRCL) rose 4.3%, rising for the first time in five days, and led sector gains. Tech stocks (.SPLRCT) rose 3%. The results sparked a rally in high-growth stocks. Megacap growth stocks have taken a hit this year as the Federal Reserve aggressively raised interest rates to tame decades-high inflation. The future cash flows on which the valuation of these companies is based are heavily discounted when interest rates rise. At 12:37 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) was up 123.91 points, or 0.39%, at 31,885.45, the S&P 500 (.SPX) was up 57.50 points, or 1.47%, at 35,978 Nas units. The Composite (.IXIC) added 314.00 points, or 2.72%, to 11,876.57. PayPal Holdings Inc ( PYPL.O ) jumped 11.4 percent after a report said activist investor Elliott Investment Management is building a stake in the fintech giant. read more T-Mobile US Inc ( TMUS.O ) rose 4.1 percent after raising its subscriber growth forecast for the second time this year and beating quarterly profit expectations. read more Issuers outnumbered decliners by a ratio of 2.77 to 1 on the NYSE and 2.11 to 1 on the Nasdaq. The S&P index hit a new 52-week high and 30 new lows, while the Nasdaq hit 39 new highs and 78 new lows. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal, Sruthi Shankar and Aniruddha Ghosh in Bengaluru. Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Anil D’Silva Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
