Chapter 1: Why did U.S. stocks finish mostly flat today?
Here's your Closing Bell Brief for Wednesday, January 28th. I'm Katherine Sullivan for The Wall Street Journal. U.S. stocks finished mostly flat today.
The Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady after three recent cuts. The S&P 500 briefly hit a record of 7,000, but pared back its gains to close down less than a tenth of a point. The Nasdaq ended 0.2 percent higher after semiconductor demand boosted sentiment. And the Dow ticked up less than a tenth. The U.S.
dollar gained ground following comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Besant that the U.S. was not interfering in currency markets. Gold prices also leapt to new highs above $5,300 a troy ounce.
Chapter 2: What impact did the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates have on the market?
Among individual companies, Nvidia shares rose over 1.5% today. China approved the purchase of the company's H200 artificial intelligence chips for the first time. Coupang shares climbed about 1%. The move followed warnings from the U.S. to South Korea about targeting tech firms. And Deutsche Bank shares fell 2%.
German prosecutors searched company offices in Frankfurt and Berlin today as part of a money laundering investigation. Heads up, an artificial intelligence tool helped us make this episode by creating summaries that were based on WSJ reporting and then reviewed and adapted by an editor.
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