U.S. stocks steadying as Fed holds rates, signals hikes ahead

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were steadying a day after the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate move.

At 10:20 ET (14:20 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 193 points or 0.4%, while the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and the NASDAQ Composite rose 0.3%.

Investors are still reacting to the Fed’s move on Wednesday, when it held rates steady for the first time in more than a year but signaled another one or two rate increases could come this year.

Futures traders see a 72% probability of a quarter of a percentage point increase in rates in July, and the Fed said the terminal rate could rise to 5.6% this year, up from an earlier forecast of 5.1%.

The expectation that the Fed is nearing the end of its rate tightening after 10 consecutive increases that took the benchmark rate above 5% has been lighting a fire under tech stocks, boosting shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in recent weeks. Some of those stocks fell back after the Fed’s announcement on Wednesday.

Shares of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) ended a 13-day winning streak and were up 0.1% on Thursday.

Retail sales data for May came in slightly hotter than expected, rising 0.3% for the month compared with expectations for a contraction of 0.1%. Initial jobless claims of 262,000 were higher than expected but in line with the prior week.

Mediterranean-style restaurant chain Cava was waiting to start trading after pricing its initial public offering at $22 a share Wednesday, above the already raised range. The debut is seen as a positive sign for new stock issues after a slow start to the year.

Oil was rising. Crude Oil WTI Futures were up 1.5% to $69.28 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures were up 1.4% to $74.20 a barrel. Gold Futures were flat at $1,968.