Tech stocks led markets lower on Wednesday as the broader mood stayed muted after the Federal Reserve's latest interest rate decision saw the central bank keep rates unchanged in a range of 4.25%-4.5% .
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC ) was down about 0.5%, retracing some of a bounce-back rally on Tuesday. The S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) was also down nearly 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI ) lost 0.3%.
In its statement on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve notably removed language from its December statement indicating that it was making progress towards its goal of 2% inflation, stating simply: "Inflation remains somewhat elevated."
Fed Chair Jerome Powell pushed back on that notion, referring to the change as "language cleanup" rather than intending to send a signal. Markets bounced off their lows of the day on Powell's comments.
Outside of Fed policy, Nvidia ( NVDA ) was again pressuring the tech sector on Wednesday, with the stock falling more than 4% after a report from Bloomberg said the Trump administration was weighing additional curbs on exports of its chips.
After the close on Wednesday, Big Tech earnings kicked off in earnest.
Tesla ( TSLA ) reported quarterly results that largely fell short of Wall Street's expectations , but shares were higher by about 3% after hours. Meanwhile, Meta ( META ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ) both saw their stocks move lower after reporting results. Meta's sales guidance for the current quarter fell short of expectations , weighing on shares, while Microsoft's cloud revenue missed estimates.
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