Wall Street hits record high as Nvidia crosses $5T; traders eye Fed, big tech earning

[Wall street district in New York City with USA flags in the background]
FilippoBacci

Traders and investors watch the market move higher on Wednesday as attention now turns to to big tech earnings and the Federal Reserve's rate decision.

The blue-chip Dow (DJI [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/DJI]) was higher by 0.4%, the benchmark S&P 500 (SP500 [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SP500]) was up by 0.2%, and the tech focused Nasdaq Composite (COMP:IND [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/COMP:IND]) was higher by 0.6%.

From a sector-by sector stance, five of the 11 S&P segments are trading in positive market territory with Info Tech leading the way. In reverse, Real Estate has suffered the most so far on the session.

U.S. Treasury yields have inched higher as the longer-end U.S. 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US10Y]) pushed up 1 basis point to 3.99% and the shorter-end U.S. 2-year Treasury yield (US2Y [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US2Y]) moved up by 1 basis point to 3.50%.

It is a big and busy day for traders as tech giants including Alphabet (GOOG [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOG])(GOOGL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOGL]), Microsoft (MSFT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MSFT]) and Meta Platforms (META [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/META]) will release their quarterly results later in the day. Moreover, the upcoming earnings data also has Magnificent Seven concentrated ETFs [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4510275-magnificent-seven-etfs-are-in-the-spotlight-as-big-tech-earnings-loom] in the spotlight as well.

“This week's big tech earnings may be the most important in recent memory since many investors are skeptical about the stock market's rally over the past two months. Big tech earnings will provide clarity and data that investors can use to determine if the past few week's of gains are justified or if the market got ahead of itself,” David Laut, chief investment officer of KERUX Financial said.

Also on the Magnificent Seven front, Nvidia (NVDA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/NVDA]) made history as it became the first company in the world to crack $5T in market capitalization [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4510295-nvidia-makes-history-as-it-shatters-5t-market-cap-ceiling].

The FOMC interest rate decision will also land later. It is widely expected that the Fed will slash rates by a quarter point. However, traders will be keener to tune into Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference to gather any hints about the monetary policy outlook.

"The Fed is expected to cut rates a quarter point. The absence of credible short-term data since the last Fed meeting means policymakers cannot follow Powell’s 'data dependency' mantra and must instead focus on economic trends. Market interest will be focused on the spectrum of views, the tone of the press conference, and (inevitably) speculation about Powell’s successor," UBS' Paul Donovan said.

On the trade front, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet face-to-face to address trade disputes on Oct. 30 at the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, South Korea.

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