US stocks trade mixed while Facebook parent Meta leads rally in tech sector

• US stocks were mixed at the open Thursday, while the Nasdaq surged 2%.
• Facebook parent Meta jumped on cost-cutting measures and a share buyback.

US stocks were mixed at the open Thursday, while the Nasdaq Composite added to strong gains a day earlier led by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta.

Tech stocks rallied, with Meta up 20% on news of cost cutting measures after a $13.7 billion loss on investments in its Reality Labs project. The company plans to significantly reduce spending and increased a stock buyback plan by $40 billion.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, which met expectations. Chairman Jerome Powell also gave investors some reason to be optimistic by asserting "that the disinflationary process has started."

But he also cautioned that rates would remain "restrictive" in order to properly tame price pressures, and added that assuming victory in the inflation fight would indeed be "premature." The latest rate hike brings the fed funds rate to a target of 4.5%-4.75%.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Thursday:

• S&P 500: 4,157.32, up 0.93%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,992.30, down 0.30% (100.66 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 12,054.30, up 2.01%

Here's what else is going on:

• The European Central Bank raised rates by 50 basis points, marking a fifth-straight increase.
• Tesla's holdings of bitcoin sank nearly $2 billion in 2022.
• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has added $11.6 billion to his personal wealth in the last year.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• Oil prices fell, with West Texas Intermediate down 0.42% to $76.08 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, declined 0.16% to $82.71 a barrel.
• Gold pulled back 0.20% to $1,946.55 per ounce.
• The 10-year yield fell 4 basis points to 3.362%.
• Bitcoin added 0.37% to $23,896.32.