Powell leaves investors waiting. Wall Street closes mixed – Stock Exchange

US stocks closed mixed after the United States Federal Reserve signaled greater concerns about inflation, which could postpone an interest rate cut. The earnings season, which is already halfway through, has excited investors.

The benchmark S&P 500 index fell 0.36% to 5,017.57 points and the technological Nasdaq lost 0.35% to 15,603.27 points. Conversely, the industrial Dow Jones gained 0.21% to 37,894.46 points.

The North American Federal Reserve (Fed) decided this Wednesday keep benchmark interest rates unchanged at the highest level in two decades – in a range between 5.25% and 5.5% -, with President Jerome Powell justifying that inflation is “too high” and therefore the “path is uncertain”.

“Powell hasn’t stirred the waters much,” Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at the Carson Group in Omaha, told Reuters. “He acknowledged that inflation continues to be a problem, but remained optimistic about its improvement in the coming quarters“.

Detrick considers that what caused some recovery in shares, preventing further losses, was Powell saying that it is “unlikely” that there will be a new interest rate hike. “Contradicted [a ideia de aumento] with force. Allowed the bulls to take over“, forward.

In addition to the central bank meeting, the first quarter results season also continues to mark negotiations. At a time when 310 of the companies in the S&P 500 index have already presented accounts, 77% recorded profits above expectations, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters.

A Amazon appreciated 2.21% to 178.86 dollars per share thanks to better-than-expected quarterly results as interest in artificial intelligence helped drive growth in cloud computing.