news/EA/2023.02.01/Wall St falls as Fed decision looms; AMD boosts chipmakers.txt

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)*Fed's rate decision expected at 1400 ET*AMD expects strong second half of 2023*Amgen weighs on Dow as Q4 revenue falls slightly*EA cuts bookings view, shares slide*Indexes down: Dow 1.12%, S&P 0.63%, Nasdaq 0.44%Feb 1 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes fell on Wednesday
ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates later
in the day, while an upbeat outlook from Advanced Micro Devices
lifted chipmakers.The Fed is widely seen as raising its target interest rate
by a quarter of a percentage point in its first policy meeting
of the year, after rapid increases in 2022 to tame decades-high
inflation.Money markets are betting on one more 25 basis point (bps)
hike in March, and a terminal rate of 4.9% in June."It's really boiling down to a longer term outlook
beyond this policy meeting and where this peak terminal rate
with Fed funds is going to be," Adam Turnquist, chief technical
strategist at LPL Financial.Recent readings have indicated that inflation is easing,
with the Fed also looking at data that will determine the
resilience of the labor market and the pace of wage growth.Meanwhile, data showed U.S. job openings unexpectedly rose
in December ahead of the Labor Department's comprehensive report
on nonfarm payrolls for January due on Friday.Separately, data showed U.S. manufacturing contracted
further in January as higher interest rates stifled demand for
goods."It's going to come down to the narrow line between
avoiding a recession and entering a recession. That's the Fed's
issue as they finish up their two-day policy meeting today,"
Turnquist added.All three indexes had a strong start to the year, with
the S&P and the Dow witnessing their first gain
for January since 2019 as investors returned to markets, which
were bruised in the previous year by a hawkish Fed.Advanced Micro Devices Inc added 8.0% as the
semiconductor maker said it expects its business to improve in
the second half of the year, propping the Philadelphia SE
Semiconductor index, which climbed 1.8%.All of the 11 major sectors on the S&P 500 were down, with
technology shares falling the least.Snap Inc tumbled 14.2% after the social media
company said it expects current-quarter revenue to decline by as
much as 10%.Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc dipped 0.1%
ahead of reporting fourth-quarter results after the bell.At 12:21 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
was down 381.36 points, or 1.12%, at 33,704.68, the S&P
500 was down 25.69 points, or 0.63%, at 4,050.91, and the
Nasdaq Composite was down 51.42 points, or 0.44%, at
11,533.13.Dow component Amgen Inc dropped 4.8% as the
drugmaker said its fourth-quarter revenue fell slightly, while
videogame publisher Electronic Arts Inc slumped 12.0% on
lowering its annual bookings forecast.Seventy percent of the 200 companies in the S&P 500 that
have reported fourth-quarter earnings have topped Wall Street
expectations. Analysts now see earnings of S&P 500 firms
declining 2.4% for the quarter, per Refinitiv estimates.Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.48-to-1
ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.13-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.The S&P index recorded 13 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 75 new highs and 21 new lows.(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Shreyashi Sanyal in
Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Ankika Biswas; Editing by
Sriraj Kalluvila and Maju Samuel)