Anxiety on Wall Street over a Chinese startup’s threat to American artificial intelligence (AI) dominance eased somewhat Wednesday as focus turned to the Federal Reserve’s rate decision due later in the day, the Associated Press reports. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both shifted between small gains and losses before the bell, while futures for the technology-heavy Nasdaq jumped 0.3%.
Dutch semiconductor company ASML on Wednesday announced record revenue of $9.7 billion, reflecting strong demand for its advanced chipmaking tools. ASML shares surged 5.3%. Shares of Nvidia, whose chips are powering much of the move into AI and whose stock has become a symbol of the surrounding frenzy, were off about 1% on Wednesday. Other AI-related companies also held steadier, including chip company Broadcom, which ticked up about 1%.
Frontier Group Holdings rose 1.5% after announcing it would try for a second time to merge with Spirit Airlines, which sought bankruptcy protection late last year. Frontier said the proposed deal would include newly issued Frontier debt and common stock.
Railroad operator Norfolk Southern inched up about 1.2% after it beat Wall Street’s profit forecasts. There is also growing optimism that a Republican-controlled Congress could ease restrictions on the industry.
When the Fed wraps up its meeting later Wednesday, the widespread expectation is that the U.S. central bank will leave its key interest rate alone after raising it three times at the end of last year.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost 30 cents to $73.47 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, dipped 33 cents to $76.16 per barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar fell to 155.41 Japanese yen from 155.53 yen.
