Investors braced for the Federal Reserve's next interest rate decision and earnings from tech giants Microsoft and Meta.

Investors focus on the Fed's policy decision and Chair Jerome Powell's news conference. Earnings from Meta and Microsoft are due after the closing bell.

U.S. stock indexes are drifting on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates where they are, a move that could upset President Donald Trump but was one that Wall Street was widely expecting.

President Donald Trump lashed out at Sen. Josh Hawley on Wednesday after the Republican’s proposal to ban stock trading by members of Congress — and the president and vice president — won bipartisan approval to advance in a committee vote.

President Trump attacked a GOP senator who voted with Democrats as a "pawn" and "second-tier" in a Truth Social post.

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley voted with Democrats to advance legislation to ban members of Congress from owning individual stocks.

In the midst of an artificial intelligence spending spree, Meta posted stronger-than-expected results for the second quarter, buoyed by growing ad revenue even as its expenses increased.

Meta posted a second-quarter profit that beat expectations by a wide margin, and revenue that topped forecasts for a 12th-straight quarter, as active users, ad impressions and ad prices all rose. The company also provided a revenue outlook for the current quarter that was better than forecast.

Meta Platforms shares surged in after-hours trading after it blew out second-quarter earnings expectations Wednesday afternoon. Continue reading this article with a Barron’s sub