🟢 'Wait and See' Wins the Day – Fed Holds, Markets Climb

Disney Pops, Powell Stalls, and Wall Street Finds Its Groove Again

Markets breathed a cautious sigh of relief Wednesday as Jerome Powell kept rates steady and Wall Street braced for tariff turbulence. Despite a tech drag from Alphabet, upbeat earnings and trade optimism helped equities close green.

📈 S&P 500: +0.43%
📈 Dow Jones: +0.70% (Disney drove the surge)
📈 Nasdaq: +0.30% (dragged by $GOOGL's 7% plunge)

🏦 Powell Press Pause — And Markets Like It

🛑 Fed held rates steady at 4.25%–4.50% (as expected)
📉 Risks of both higher inflation and higher unemployment have risen
🗣️ Powell repeated “uncertainty” 13 times 😬

"We don't need to be in a hurry," Powell said. Translation? No June cut unless data screams for it.

🔍 Key Quote: "There are cases in which it would be appropriate for us to cut rates this year, and cases in which it wouldn’t. We just don’t know.”