S&P 500 flat after Powell doesn't guarantee December Fed rate cut

STORY: U.S. stocks ended mixed on Wednesday with the Dow closing slightly lower, the S&P 500 finishing flat and the Nasdaq posting a half percent gain.This after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter point, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell said another rate cut in December was far from guaranteed.That comment sent stocks into negative territory, though shares recovered some losses later in the session.Alexander Morris is CEO and chief investment officer of F/m Investments."Even though Chair Powell says it's not a foregone conclusion, it still feels pretty likely to continue this, particularly if the labor market does continue to crack, which Chair Powell went out of his way a few times to point out that that was happening and there was this inflationary pressure that was likely perhaps a one off increase in prices from tariffs. But there is some concern that those tariff one-offs are very quickly going to become permanent."Stocks on the move included Nvidia, which finished 3% higher and helped keep the Nasdaq in positive territory.The AI chip leader made history in Wednesday's session as the first company ever to crack a $5 trillion-dollar market valuation.After the closing bell, shares of Microsoft and Meta Platforms both lost ground after the megacap companies posted quarterly results and reported significant AI spending.That deepened investor concerns about the mounting costs of sustaining the AI boom.Meanwhile, shares of Alphabet jumped in extended trading, after the Google parent reported revenue that beat expectations.Corporate earnings overall have been mostly stronger than expected this reporting period.Of the 222 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so far, about 85% have posted earnings above analyst expectations, according to data compiled by LSEG as of Wednesday.

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