Investing.com – U.S. stocks started the week higher, supported by another batch of corporate earnings and the Federal Reserve’s next decision on interest rates.

At 10:35 ET (14:35 GMT), the gain was 163 points, or 0.5%, while the gain was 0.4% and the gain was 0.3%.

Big tech earnings are on deck this week amid the AI ​​craze

Big tech companies are on deck this week, with reports from Microsoft (NASDAQ: ), Alphabet (NASDAQ: ), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: ) , among others. Investors have driven the tech sector up 34% this year on the promise of artificial intelligence, and analysts will be listening to what big tech companies have to say about their AI projects.

Analysts will also be watching for signs that a slowdown in digital advertising is coming. Attention will also focus on what Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says about Threads, the social media company’s latest microblogging site, which gathered 100 million sign-ups in its first week as a potential competitor to Twitter.

Reports also emerged this week from restaurant chains McDonald’s (NYSE: ) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: ). general Electric (NYSE: ), AT&T (NYSE: ), and Coca-Cola (NYSE: ).

Fed meeting is the main event of this week

However, the big event this week is the Fed’s two-day meeting starting tomorrow and its next meeting ending on Wednesday. Futures traders mostly expect the Fed to hike interest rates by another quarter percentage point. That’s what Chairman Jerome Powell said during the afternoon session Wednesday that has investors focused.

Powell may offer more hints about the Fed’s direction for the second half of the year, and whether he sees a chance to end his rate hikes earlier rather than later amid the cooling signals.

Later this week, economic data will give more sense to that trend. The second quarter is due on Thursday, and the latest reading on the Fed’s favorite inflation gauge is due on Friday.

‘Barbie’ movie blockbuster boosts Mattel

In other stock moves, the Barbie maker mattel inc (NASDAQ:) was up 1% after barbie The film has registered the biggest opening weekend box office collection of this year so far.

Shares of Domino’s Pizza Inc (NYSE: ) rose 0.8% after the pizza chain fell short of quarterly expectations.