Stocks - Fed Promise to Protect Economic Growth Cheers Wall Street

Investing.com - Wall Street applauded -- but only politely -- for the Federal Reserve's vow Wednesday to move rates lower if economic uncertainties persist.

An actual rate cut might have set off a big rally, with the S&P potentially hitting a new high. But a rate cut is coming for sure in July, according to fed funds futures tracked by Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.

As a result, the S&P 500 moved up 0.3%, the Nasdaq Composite added 0.42% and the Dow Jones industrials rose 0.15%.

The Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's rate-setting body, held its key federal funds rate at 2.25% to 2.5%. The projection is for the levels to be cut to 2% to 2.25% in July and lower later on, possibly to 1.5% to 1.75%.

In a new conference after the Fed statement's release, Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank is concerned about a number of factors affecting the domestic and global economies, including slowing manufacturing growth, trade tensions, especially between the United States and China, and inflation that's too low.

Trade disputes and tariff threats have roiled markets in recent weeks. President Donald Trump and China President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet in Tokyo later this month.

So, the Fed will do what it can to keep the economic expansion going. But while eight FOMC members see rates falling later this year, there wasn't much support to move rates immediately, Powell said. The one exception was James Bullard of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, who voted for a rate cut today.

The signal that a rate cut was coming helped push stocks higher after the markets flatlined for the morning and early afternoon,

Utilities, healthcare and real estate stocks were the top performing S&P 500 sectors, with energy, financial and materials stocks the laggards.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH), Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) and Merck (NYSE:MRK) were the Dow leaders. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) and Boeing (NYSE:BA) were the laggards.

Among tech stocks, leaders included Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). Both hit new highs. So, too, did eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) and Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS). Adobe and Cadence led the Nasdaq 100 index.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was up slightly, but Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was down.

Interest rates were lower, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling to 2.029%, its lowest level since Nov. 8, 2016.

WTI oil futures dropped back slightly to $53.97 a barrel after Tuesday's 4.2% gain. Brent Oil Futures were off 32 cents to $61.82. Gold futures, copper futures and silver futures were off slightly. Copper, one of the best indicators of economic confidence, is flat on the year, but down 8% in the second quarter, finishing at $2.6805 on Comex.

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Winners and Losers Among S&P Stocks:

Allergan (NYSE:AGN), Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE) and News Corp (NASDAQ:NWS) were among the top S&P 500 performers on the day.

Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT), natural-gas producer EQT (NYSE:EQT) and Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) were among the weakest S&P 500 performers.