US stocks trade mixed as Powell says economy is making progress

US stocks trade mixed as Powell says economy is making progress

US stocks were mixed on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 rising following comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Powell said the economy is beginning to make progress towards it standards that would trigger the Fed to begin tapering its monthly bond purchases, but that the economy is not yet fully there. The Fed will continue its monthly bond purchases of $120 billion. Investors were also digesting strong earnings results from mega-cap tech companies like Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft. All three tech giants easily surpassed analyst's revenue and EPS estimates, helping boost shares of Microsoft and Alphabet in trades on Wednesday. Apple traded slightly lower as investors questioned if Apple's strong growth rates were sustainable. The strong moves in US tech companies are in stark comparison to Chinese tech stocks, which continue to sell off as increased regulation from Beijing spreads to various industries. Cathie Wood's Ark Invest companies on Tuesday. Robinhood's expected IPO later this week will , as they are reportedly going to sit out the offering in fear of retail-driven volatility. The retail brokerage app is now testing a new feature that will let users Crypto-exchange Binance said it including data-sharing with regulators and