US STOCKS-S&P 500 ends lower after Fed holds steady on rates

* Alphabet jumps on record profit
* Microsoft shares down after report
* Investors await Apple, Facebook earnings due after the
bell

(Updates with close of market)
By Noel Randewich and Shreyashi Sanyal
April 28 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 ended lower on Wednesday
after the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates and its
monthly bond-buying program steady and gave no sign it was ready
to reduce its support for the recovery.
Despite the improving economy, the Fed repeated the guidance
it has used since December, saying it must see "substantial
further progress" towards its inflation and employment goals
before stepping back from its monthly bond purchases.
"The Fed underscored a lot of uncertainty remains. In this
kind of a backdrop, with inflation being transitory, they'll
continue to be pedal to the metal in terms of monetary policy,"
said Kevin Flanagan, head of fixed income strategy at WisdomTree
Funds.
The S&P 500 was mostly unchanged immediately after the Fed's
announcement, but it later rose to an intra-day record high
after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a press conference that it
was "not time yet" to discuss reducing the Fed's support for the
recovering economy.
U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to unveil a sweeping
$1.8 trillion package for families and education in his first
joint speech to Congress on Wednesday, senior White House
officials said.
Google parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O hit a record high after
reporting late on Tuesday a record profit for the second
consecutive quarter and announcing a $50 billion share buyback.
Investors were awaiting quarterly reports after the bell
from Apple AAPL.O and Facebook FB.O .
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
161.59 points, or 0.48%, to 33,823.34, the S&P 500 .SPX lost
3.27 points, or 0.08%, to 4,183.45 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 39.19 points, or 0.28%, to 14,051.03.
Microsoft Corp 's MSFT.O quarterly report late on Tuesday
met sales expectations and beat profit estimates, but its shares
fell and pressured the Nasdaq due to skepticism about one-off
benefits included in the results and high hopes after a
year-long rally. Biotech Amgen Inc 's AMGN.O decline weighed on the Dow
.DJI after it said its first-quarter sales and profit fell due
to a 7% drop in its net drug prices and a hit from the COVID-19
pandemic.
Boeing Co BA.N fell after posting a wider-than-expected
quarterly loss and pausing 737 MAX deliveries over an electrical
issue that has partly re-grounded the fleet.
Overall earnings per share for S&P 500 companies in the
first quarter are expected to jump 39% from a year earlier,
according to Refinitiv IBES data.