NEW YORK, Jan 30 — US stocks rallied yesterday, with both the Dow and S&P 500 ending at records to kick off a heavy news week that includes tech titan earnings and a Federal Reserve interest rate decision.

Following a strong 2023 for tech shares, investors are hoping for upbeat news later this week with releases from Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Apple and Facebook parent Meta.

Last week’s results from Netflix wowed markets, while fellow tech giant Tesla sank after a disappointing report and outlook.

The Nasdaq actually led major US indices with a 1.1 per cent gain, although it was the Dow and S&P 500 that ended at fresh records.

Markets are girding for the Fed to again keep interest rates unchanged. But traders hope to hear some guidance from officials on their plans, with a cut in March seen as a toss-up.

David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, said there were hopes the Fed statement and chairman Jerome Powell’s subsequent press conference “may contain clues to the timing of the first rate cut for nearly four years.”

While European stocks finished little changed, the Shanghai stock market closed lower following news that a Hong Kong court had issued a winding-up order against Chinese developer Evergrande, stoking fresh worries about the property sector and economy.

Evergrande’s Hong Kong-listed shares collapsed more than 20 per cent on the news before they were suspended.

Still, Redmond Wong, chief China strategist at Saxo Markets, said “the winding-up of Evergrande’s Hong Kong listing entity has been widely anticipated and should not impact the general market much.”

Monday’s decision came amid worries that a huge debt crisis in China’s property sector could spill over into the wider economy.

The order kickstarts a long process that should see Evergrande’s offshore assets liquidated and its management replaced, after the company failed to develop a working restructuring plan.

Analysts cited Evergrande’s woes as a drag on oil prices, which dropped more than one per cent after initially rising. — AFP