Stock Market Today: Powell Reassures on Rate Hikes, Starbucks Plummets

U.S. markets ended mixed to start a new month after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and signaled that a hike in rates did not appear imminent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 80 points or a quarter-of-a-percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each ended lower by a third of a percent.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said after the conclusion of the central bank's two-day policy meeting "it's unlikely that the next policy rate move will be a hike," while also acknowledging that progress against inflation has stalled amid recent economic data showing persistent pricing pressures across many facets of the U.S. economy.

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"Inflation is still too high, further progress in bringing it down is not assured and the path forward is uncertain," Powell said.

The S&P and Nasdaq rose after those statements, as investors appeared to be soothed that the Fed chair all but ruled out another rate hike in the immediate future.

Still, the Fed highlighted a "lack of further progress" on bringing down inflation — a long way from last June, when Powell said: "I would almost say that the conditions that we need to see in place to get inflation down are coming into place."

Corporate earnings were the day's other big driver, with shares of Pinterest soaring 20 percent after the company reported robust sales and user growth on a successful push toward Gen Z consumers as an e-commerce destination. The photo-pinning app has been having something of a renaissance among young users, mainly for fashion inspiration.

Meanwhile, shares of Starbucks fell 16 percent after the coffee giant reported disappointing earnings and a slowdown in sales, coming after a pandemic-era boom on the back of those same Gen Z consumers.

Yum! Brands, which owns Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell, also reported a rare drop in the all-important same-store-sales metric, sending shares down 4 percent.

Between Starbucks, Yum! and McDonald's earlier this week, a trend is emerging among fast-food stalwarts that shows consumers are starting to tighten their belts when it comes to everyday spending as prices remain elevated. (Bucking that trend: Wingstop, the chicken-wing chain, saw a 20 percent increase in same-store sales last quarter. That stock is up 50 percent so far this year.)

Also among the big movers of the day was, once again, Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social that's majority owned by former President Donald Trump. Shares of Trump Media sank 10 percent after a sharp rise earlier in the week. The stock has been all over the place since it debuted in March, often rising or falling on no underlying news.

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Apple earnings were due after the bell Thursday, along with Ozempic-maker Novo Nordisk. The April jobs report hits the tape Friday morning.

Earnings Highlights To Watch This Week

• Thursday: Apple, pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, Shell, Moderna
• Friday: Berkshire Hathaway, AMC