The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose after the Federal Reserve said it would hold short-term rates steady. The market widely expected the Fed to leave the benchmark federal-funds rate unchanged. Still, stocks were largely unchanged from ahead of the statement, which some analysts said shouldn't come as a surprise after multiple instances when investors were prepared for rate raises and none happened. With just over 200 companies in the S&P 500 reporting, earnings in the index are on track to drop 4% in the second quarter from the prior year, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of contracting earnings, according to FactSet. That is a smaller decline than the 5.3% drop analysts had expected as of June 30 and marks a stronger result than the first quarter, FactSet data shows.
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