• The Nasdaq rose 3.8% to close Wednesday’s session at 13,437 points.
• Spotify surged 7.8% on a new stadium & shirt deal with FC Barcelona.
• Starbucks soared 7.9% on CEO Kevin Johnson retiring & Howard Schults returning.

The US markets rallied on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve completed its FOMC meeting and announced that it is raising interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell saying the central bank will do whatever it takes to cool inflation.

The Dow Jones rose 1.6% to finish the trading day up 519 points to close at 34,063 points.

The tech heavy NASDAQ rose 3.8% to finish the trading day up 488 points to close at 13,437 points with Meta and Netflix gaining 6.04% and 4.01% respectively.

One bitcoin is worth US$41,170 going into the Asian trading day.

The Australian dollar is firm against the major currencies and is buying 72.85 US cents.

Shares in audio streaming giant Spotify surged 7.8% on Wednesday after the company announced it has signed a stadium and shirt deal with Spanish football team, FC Barcelona. Under the deal, the team will wear the Spotify logo on their uniform shirts for the next four years.

US-based coffee powerhouse Starbucks extended its rally this week, soaring 7.9% on Wednesday after announcing CEO Kevin Johnson is retiring after five years in the job and said that former CEO Howard Schultz will return to the role on an interim basis. JPMorgan analysts upgraded Starbucks shares to overweight following the news.

And Instagram has rolled out parental control systems for the first time, allowing parents to track how much time their children are spending on the app amongst other safety measures.