Wall Street ends higher ahead of FOMC rate decision, big tech earnings

U.S. equities closed higher on the session, with the move attributed to positioning ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee's rate decision and a slate of big technology earnings reports. The headline does not specify the magnitude of the gains or the individual companies reporting, so the analysis rests on the general setup rather than specific results. The primary transmission channel is rate expectations: a policy decision is repriced through Treasury yields and the dollar, and ahead of such meetings, investors typically reduce exposure to rate-sensitive long-duration growth stocks until the guidance is known, which makes a higher close notable as a sign of relative confidence. The Nasdaq 100 (NDX) is most exposed because its weighting toward mega-cap technology makes it sensitive both to earnings surprises and to any shift in the discount rate applied to future cash flows, while the S&P 500 (SP500) reflects this through its heavy technology index weighting. The U.S. dollar (USD) is the other channel to watch, since a hawkish signal from the FOMC would tend to lift it against major currencies, while a dovish tone would weigh on it. The next catalyst for traders is the FOMC

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