The Dow spikes more than 350 points as Fed minutes and an inflation report come into focus

October 9

The Dow jumped more than 350 points on Wednesday after the release of minutes from the Fed’s Sept. 17-18 meeting showed how officials agreed to a half-point rate cut. Despite being divided on the economic outlook and uncertain about how aggressive to be, the Fed settled on a 50-basis-point reduction—the first in over four years.

Investors are now focused on this week’s upcoming inflation report, which is expected to provide further insight into the economy’s direction.

In the afternoon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 350 points, or 0.8%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq and S&P 500 were 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively. Oil prices declined, too, taking the international benchmark Brent crude closer to $72 per barrel.

Shares of Alphabet slip after DOJ filing

Google parent company Alphabet’s (GOOG) shares dropped over 2% as the Department of Justice could consider breaking up Google after a federal judge ruled in August that the tech giant monopolized the online search engine market.

To address Google’s monopoly, the Justice Department said in a court filing Tuesday that it will find remedies that would prevent and restrain any present and future maintenance of the company’s dominance in the search market.

Nvidia’s market cap surpasses Microsoft — again

Nvidia stock (NVDA) seems to be climbing back to its record-high close from June. The AI chipmaker’s stock was up almost 1% at the open Wednesday. Nvidia’s rising stock has pushed its market capitalization past Microsoft’s (MSFT) once again.

During Wednesday morning trading, the chipmaker’s market cap reached $3.26 trillion, while Microsoft’s was $3.09 trillion. Both trailed Apple’s (AAPL) market cap of $3.44 trillion. In June, Nvidia briefly surpassed Apple in total market cap and crossed the $3 trillion threshold for the first time. Just weeks later, it overtook both Apple and Microsoft to, at the time, become the the world’s most valuable public company.

Boeing stock drops as strike continues

Boeing (BA-2.41%) withdrew its latest offer to union machinists Tuesday after negotiations broke down as their strike heads into its fourth week. The Arlington, Virginia–based firm’s offer — which it had labeled its “best and final proposal — included 30% pay raises for the 33,000 factory workers who have been on the picket line since Sept. 13 after they rejected a tentative labor deal.

–Rocio Fabbro, William Gavin, and Britney Nguyen contributed to this article.

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