NEW YORK: The tech-rich Nasdaq soared early Thursday after Facebook parent Meta Platforms posted better results than expected, while markets digested the latest round of central bank interest rate hikes.

Meta surged nearly 20 percent after reporting a smaller drop in annual sales than anticipated, as the company announced that the number of daily users on Facebook hit two billion for the first time.

The results helped boost shares of Apple, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet, all of which report earnings later Thursday.

Wall Street dips as Fed decision looms; AMD boosts chipmakers

About 30 minutes into trading, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.9 percent at 12,042.91.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6 percent to 33,877.41, while the broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.7 percent to 4,146.91.

The European Central Bank raised interest rates again and signaled it would “stay the course” in its monetary policy tightening, while the Bank of England hiked rates for a 10th time in a row.

The moves come on the heels of Wednesday’s announcement by the Federal Reserve, of a quarter-point interest rate hike. This marked a step down from a series of steeper increases.

Investors cheered the Fed’s decision, viewing comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at a press conference after the decision as less hawkish than expected and suggestive of an imminent policy pivot.