Stock Market Today: S&P 500 ends above 5,400 for first time despite hawkish Fed

Investing.com -- The S&P 500 closed above 5,400 Wednesday as the Fed's outlook for fewer cuts were overshadow by data showing inflation cooled more than expected in May, stoking optimism that the disinflation trend remains intact.   

At 16:00 ET (20:00 GMT), S&P 500 rose 0.8% to close at a record 5,420, after hitting a intraday record of 5,447.02 and NASDAQ Composite rose 1.5% to third-straight record close, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 35 points, or 0.1%,

Fed sees just one cut for 2024; CPI in May cools more than expected

The Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady on Wednesday, but now sees just one rate cut for the year, as inflation is expected to trend higher than previously expected.

Fed members now see the benchmark rate falling to 5.1% this year, suggesting just one rate cut in 2024, compared with a prior estimate in March for three cuts. In 2025, Fed members see the rates falling to 4.1%, up from a prior forecast for 3.9%, before eventually declining to 3.1% in 2026.

"The shifts in the projections of the Fed's SEP are more hawkish than we anticipated," Economists at Jefferies said in a Wednesday note following the decision. 

The decision arrived on the heels of data showing U.S. consumer prices increased by less than expected on an annualized basis in May, as the consumer price index rose by 3.3% last month, decelerating slightly from 3.4% in April. Month-on-month, the reading slowed to 0.0% from 0.3%.

Oracle surges on AI partnerships 

The tech market remained in focus Wednesday, with Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) stock rose 13% after the computer technology group announced two new partnerships with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Cloud in a bid to extend the reach of its AI infrastructure, while also unveiling a healthy forecast for revenue growth in its 2025 fiscal year. 

Elsewhere, Rubrik (NYSE:RBRK) stock fell 8% despite the cloud data management company delivering guidance and first-quarter results that topped expectations. 

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), meanwhile, continued to ride AI optimism higher as the iPhone maker briefly took Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)'s crown as the most valuable company by market cap, a day after a 7% jump as Wall Street cheered its plans to foray into AI.

Bitcoin gives up some gains, but crypto stocks end higher

Bitcoin gave up gains after the Fed decision and hawkish outlook, but cryptocurrency-related stocks in including Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN), MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:MSTR), and Marathon Digital Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MARA) higher.

(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)