U.S. stocks are rising ahead of more earnings reports and the Fed's rate decision

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were rising to start the week, which features another batch of corporate earnings and the Federal Reserve’s next decision on interest rates.

At 9:50 ET (13:50 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 99 points or 0.3%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and the NASDAQ Composite rose 0.2%.

Big tech companies are on deck this week, with reports from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) among others. Investors have driven the tech sector 34% higher this year on the promise of artificial technology, and analysts will be listening to what the big tech firms say about their AI projects.

Analysts will also be looking out for signs that a slump in digital advertising is turning around. Attention will also focus on what Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says about Threads, the social media company’s latest microblogging site that gathered 100 million sign-ups in its first week as a potential competitor to Twitter.

Also up this week are reports from restaurant chains McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG), as well as General Electric (NYSE: GE), AT&T (NYSE: T), and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO).

The big event this week, however, is the Fed’s two-day meeting starting tomorrow and concluding on Wednesday with its next rate decision. Futures traders mostly expect the Fed will raise rates another quarter of a percentage point. It’s what Chair Jerome Powell says during the press conference Wednesday afternoon that investors are focused on.

Powell could provide more hints as to the direction of the Fed for the second half of the year, and whether it sees a chance to end its rate hikes earlier rather than later amid signs that inflation was cooling.

Later this week, economic data will add more understanding to that trend. Gross domestic product for the second quarter is due Thursday, and the latest reading on the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditure index, is due out on Friday.

In other stock moves, Barbie maker Mattel Inc (NASDAQ: MAT) was rising 1% after the Barbie movie notched the biggest opening weekend box office draw of the year so far.

Domino’s Pizza Inc (NYSE: DPZ) shares rose 1.8% after the pizza chain fell short of quarterly revenue expectations.

Oil was rising. Crude Oil WTI Futures were up 0.9% to $77.78 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures were up 0.6% to $81.39 a barrel. Gold Futures were down 0.1% to $1,964.

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