Stock market calmed by Fed’s interest rate signals ahead of Apple earnings

Global stock markets showed cam on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve squelched talk of more interest rate hikes as Apple earnings loom large for Wall Street.
Marc Jones for Reuters:
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The U.S. central bank’s rate setters unanimously decided to leave rates in the 5.25% to 5.5% range they have been in since July, but it was the post-meeting press conference that proved most interesting.
While Fed chair Jerome Powell indicated that stubbornly high inflation would see a long-expected U.S. rate cut pushed back, he refused to entertain talk that rates might actually need to go up again.
Wall Street’s S&P 500 futures were up 0.7%, pointing to it recouping the ground it lost late on Wednesday.
Most of the focus there will be on Apple’s results after the close, with analysts bracing for a big drop in sales and waiting to hear how the company plans to embed AI into its iPhones.
Long considered a must-own stock on Wall Street, Apple shares have underperformed other Big Tech companies in recent months, falling more than 10% this year as fears mount about its slow roll-out of artificial intelligence services and as a resurgent Huawei [RIC:RIC:HWT.UL] takes market share in China.
Analysts on average see iPhone sales, which account for about half of Apple’s revenue, falling 10.4% in the first three months of 2024, according to LSEG. That drop would be the steepest in more than three years.

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MacDailyNews Take: As always, we’ll have Apple’s results for you as soon as they are available right around 1:30pm PDT / 4:30pm EDT – just check our home page: https://macdailynews.com
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