Markets News, Feb. 18, 2025: Tech Stocks Lead Markets Higher; Fed Minutes Reveal Deep Divisions Over Future Rate Cuts

Stocks rose on Wednesday, but pared their gains as investors questioned the outlook for interest rates in light of the minutes of January’s Federal Reserve meeting.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8% on Wednesday, while the benchmark S&P 500 advanced 0.6% and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3%. All three major indexes eked out tiny gains on Tuesday in a volatile session driven by rising and ebbing tech jitters.

The minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting revealed starkly diverging views among policymakers on the appropriate path of monetary policy. Some officials want to leave the door open for the Fed to raise rates if inflation remains sticky, while others are eager to continue cutting, according to the minutes released Wednesday.

The majority of officials voted in late January to leave interest rates unchanged for the first time since July. The odds of more cuts in the next few months dwindled last week following surprisingly rosy inflation and jobs reports. The December Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, is set to be released on Friday morning.

Tech stocks found their footing Wednesday. Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) rose 1.6% after social media giant Meta (META) announced a new deal to buy millions of its chips. Several of Wall Street’s favorite AI “pick and shovel” stocks rose, including Micron (MU) and Western Digital (WDC). Meta shares rose 0.6%.

The remainder of the Magnificent Seven closed in the green. Shares of Amazon (AMZN) rose nearly 2% despite Berkshire Hathaway reporting on Tuesday it had sold nearly all of its stake in the e-commerce giant. Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), and Tesla (TSLA) posted marginal gains.

On the earnings front, shares of Palo Alto Networks (PANW) slid 7% after its earnings guidance came up short of expectations. The stocks of chip firms Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) and Analog Devices (ADI) rose 8% and 3%, respectively, after each topped estimates on the top and bottom lines.

The 10-year Treasury yield, which impacts interest rates on a variety of consumer loans including mortgages, was recently 4.08%, up from 4.06% at Tuesday’s close.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, rose about 4.5% to $65.10 a barrel after Vice President JD Vance cast doubt on the progress of diplomatic negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. Gold and silver futures rebounded from their slump yesterday. Gold climbed 1.8% to $4,995 an ounce, while silver rose 4.9% to $77.10 an ounce.

Bitcoin traded around $66,300 in the late afternoon, down from its overnight highs above $68,000. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of currencies, ticked up 0.6% to 97.70.