US STOCKS-Wall Street ends lower after Fed holds steady on rates

* Alphabet jumps on record profit
* Microsoft shares down after report
* In extended trade, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) jumps following results
* Indexes: Dow -0.48%, S&P 500 -0.08%, Nasdaq -0.28%

(Updates after market close, adds detail on Facebook results)
By Noel Randewich and Shreyashi Sanyal
April 28 (Reuters) - Wall Street 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 briefly 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 rose 2.9% and closed at
a record high after reporting late on Tuesday a record profit
for the second consecutive quarter and announcing a $50 billion
share buyback. In extended trade, Facebook jumped nearly 6% after the
social media heavyweight reported quarterly revenue that handily
beat analysts' expectations. Investors were also awaiting
Apple's AAPL.O results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 0.48% to end at
33,820.38 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.08% to
4,183.18.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 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 2.8% and pressured the Nasdaq due to skepticism about
one-off benefits included in the results and high hopes after a
year-long rally. A 7.2% drop in Amgen Inc AMGN.O weighed on the Dow .DJI
after the biotech 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 2.9% 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.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.44-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.25-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 80 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 113 new highs and 22 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.5 billion shares, compared
with the 9.9 billion full-session average over the last 20
trading days.