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Wall Street gains with all eyes on Fed rate decision

By Pranav Kashyap and Johann M Cherian

March 19, 2025 – 7:21 AM PDT

A street sign for Wall Street hangs in front of the New York Stock Exchange May 8, 2013. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

(Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s widely anticipated monetary policy decision, at a time when worries linger about trade policies and their impact on the economy.

The central bank is expected to leave its benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged in the 4.25%-4.50% range, when it releases its policy statement at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT).

Traders see the Fed lowering borrowing costs by at least two 25-basis point cuts by December, with the first expected in July, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Focus will be on new economic projections from policymakers that will give an idea of how they feel U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies will affect economic growth, inflation and unemployment.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak later in the day.

“The Fed is facing the same uncertainty that market participants are in terms of how tariffs are actually going to play out,” said Jordan Rizzuto, chief investment officer at GammaRoad Capital Partners.

A line chart showing the midpoint of the targeted midpoint for the federal funds rate and the implied rate of futures contracts.

The European Union will tighten steel import quotas to reduce inflows by a further 15% from April, a senior EU official said, in a move aimed at preventing cheap steel flooding the European market after Washington imposed new tariffs.

Boeing (BA.N) shares jumped 6% after the aircraft maker said it doesn’t see a near-term impact from tariffs.

Analysts have said that markets are now awaiting Trump’s announcements regarding reciprocal trade barriers on April 1.

At 09:48 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 211.05 points, or 0.51%, to 41,792.36, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 23.94 points, or 0.43%, to 5,638.60, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) gained 96.19 points, or 0.55%, to 17,600.31.

Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors rose, led by a 0.8% gain in consumer discretionary stocks (.SPLRCD).

Tesla (TSLA.O) gained 3.1% after the EV maker logged declines over the past two sessions.

U.S. stocks have come under severe selling pressure in the recent weeks after a raft of economic indicators signaled a cooling of the U.S. economy amid trade policy uncertainties.

Multiple companies have also lowered their annual forecasts, the latest being General Mills (GIS.N). The Pillsbury owner lowered its annual sales outlook, sending its shares down 3.5%.

The benchmark S&P 500 index (.SPX) confirmed last week it was in correction following a 10% drop from its recent high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (.IXIC) also confirmed a correction on March 6, while the blue-chip Dow is about 2% away from the correction threshold.

The allure of safe havens continued, with gold prices touching a record high again on Wednesday.

Nvidia (NVDA.O) rose 0.9%. CEO Jensen Huang said on Tuesday the company was well placed to navigate a shift in the artificial intelligence industry.

Venture Global (VG.N) rose 7.4% on Wednesday after a report said the Trump administration is set to grant the LNG producer conditional approval to export natural gas from a proposed Louisiana facility.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.68-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.64-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and no new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 11 new highs and 43 new lows.

^{Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta}

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