Stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, partly offsetting the notable rebound seen in the previous session. The major averages climbed off their worst levels in late-day trading but still closed in negative territory.
The Nasdaq slid 101.26 points or 0.5 percent to 19,632.32, the S&P 500 (SPI:SP500) fell 28.39 points or 0.5 percent to 6,039.31 and the Dow dipped 136.83 points or 0.3 percent to 44,713.52.
The lower close on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged following its first monetary policy meeting of 2025.
The Fed said it decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 4.25 to 4.50 percent in support of its dual goals of maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run.
The decision to leave rates unchanged came as the Fed noted inflation remains “somewhat elevated” and reiterated its strong commitment to returning inflation to its 2 percent objective.
Notably, the Fed removed a phrase included in previous statements indicating that inflation has “made progress” towards it target.
The Fed’s latest decision comes after it lowered rates by a total of 100 basis points or 1.0 percentage point over the three previous meetings, beginning with a 50 basis point cut in September.
The central bank’s next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for March 18-19, when Fed officials will also provide their latest projections for rates, inflation and the economy.
CME Group’s FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 77.6 percent chance the Fed will once again leave rates unchanged but a 22.3 percent chance of a quarter point rate cut.
A slump by shares of Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) also weighed on the markets, with the AI darling and market leader tumbling by 4.0 percent after surging by 8.8 percent on Tuesday.
Nvidia came under pressure after a report from Bloomberg said Trump administration officials are exploring additional curbs on the sale of the company’s chips to China.
Sector News
Interest rate-sensitive housing stocks showed a significant move to the downside, dragging the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index down by 2.2 percent.
Considerable weakness was also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 1.5 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.
Software and commercial real estate stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, while airline and computer hardware stocks moved to the upside.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Wednesday, with several markets closed for holidays. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index shot up by 1.0 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed by 0.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index jumped by 1.0 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries showed a lack of direction before eventually closing roughly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, crept up by less than a basis point to 4.555 percent.
Looking Ahead
Trading on Thursday is likely to be driven by reaction to earnings news from big-name companies like Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), IBM (NASDAQ:IBM), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), which are reporting their quarterly results after the close of today’s trading.
SOURCE: RTTNEWS