: U.S. stocks open lower as investors assess Big Tech earnings, await Fed’s interest-rate decisions

U.S. stock indexes opened lower on Wednesday morning as investors digested mixed earnings from Microsoft and Alphabet ahead of a Federal Reserve interest-rate decision that could push borrowing costs to their highest in 22 years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA was off 4 points, leaving it nearly flat at 35,435, while the S&P 500 SPX shed 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite COMP dropped 0.5%. Later on Wednesday, the U.S. central bank is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, the 11th increase in nearly a year and a half, while setting the federal funds rate between 5.25% to 5.5%. With the hike largely baked in, investors will be more focused on Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference for signals of how much more policy tightening might be warranted as there is less clarity over what policymakers will do at its subsequent meetings in September and November. The Fed is expected to announce its policy decision at 2 p.m. ET, followed by a 2:30 p.m. press conference with Powell. Microsoft MSFT eased 2.4% on Wednesday morning after its management said the process of generating revenue from artificial intelligence-use cases would be gradual, while laying out an aggressive spending plan to meet demand for its new AI-powered services. Shares of Alphabet Inc. GOOG rose 6.6% after the Google parent topped Wall Street profit and sales estimates on strong advertising sales.

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