US STOCKS-S&P 500 hits record after Fed holds steady on rate policy

* Alphabet jumps on record profit
* Microsoft shares down after report
* Apple, Facebook earnings due after the bell
* Indexes: Dow -0.18%, S&P 500 +0.25%, Nasdaq +0.20%

(Adds S&P 500 intra-day record high in first paragraph, updates
afternoon trading)
By Noel Randewich and Shreyashi Sanyal
April 28 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 hit an intra-day record
high 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 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 jumped about 4% after
reporting late Tuesday a record profit for the second
consecutive quarter and announcing a $50 billion share buyback.
Both Alphabet and the S&P 500 communication services sector
.SLPRCL , which includes the company, also hit record highs.
Apple AAPL.O was mostly unchanged and Facebook FB.O was
up nearly 2% ahead of their quarterly reports after the bell.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 0.18% at
33,922.8 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.25% to
4,197.31.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 0.2% to 14,117.98.
Microsoft Corp 's MSFT.O quarterly report late on Tuesday
met sales expectations and beat profit estimates, but its shares
fell over 2% 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 7% 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 about 3% 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 39.2% from a year earlier,
according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.48-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.31-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 77 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 106 new highs and 21 new lows.