Stock market today: Live updates

Stocks advanced Wednesday as investors monitored the latest updates on U.S. trade negotiations and looked toward the Federal Reserve interest rate announcement expected later in the day.

The S&P 500 gained 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 225 points higher, or 0.5%.

Disney shares popped more than 10% after the entertainment giant reported a surprise jump in streaming subscribers and exceeded earnings and revenue expectations, making the company the top-performing stock in the broader market. Shares of Uber slid about 6% after the company posted a revenue miss.

Stocks got a boost on news that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and top trade official Jamieson Greer would meet with their Chinese counterparts this week in Switzerland. Investors took that as a positive on the trade front after the turbulent market action following President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement last month.

“My sense is that this will be about de-escalation, not about the big trade deal,” Bessent later told Fox News. “But we’ve got to de-escalate, before we can move forward.”

That action comes as investors gear up for the Fed’s interest rate decision slated for 2 p.m. ET. Fed funds futures are pricing in a nearly 100% likelihood that the central bank holds the borrowing rate steady, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.

Traders will monitor Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s post-decision press conference for insights on where rates could go moving forward. It comes at a precarious moment for the central bank leader after being the target of criticism from Trump, who has said his “termination cannot come fast enough.” At one point, White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett said the team would “study” whether Powell could be fired, though Trump later said he has “no intention” of removing the Fed chief.

The Fed meeting also comes as market participants contend with concerns that Trump’s plan for levies could push inflation higher, complicating the central bank’s plan for interest rates.

“There are serious concerns that the tariff situation will introduce inflationary pressures that will begin to reveal themselves as time progresses,” said Chris Brigati, chief investment officer at SWBC. “We fear inflation will remain elevated and sticky, if not specifically moving meaningfully higher, causing interest rates to remain higher until inflation is tamed and the Fed can react with a more aggressive rate cutting policy to spur economic growth.”