After moving to the upside early in the session, stocks gave back ground over the course of the trading day on Wednesday to end the day roughly flat.
While the Nasdaq inched up 25.18 points or 0.1 percent to 19,546.27, the S&P 500 (SPI:SP500) edged down 1.85 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,980.87 and the Dow slipped 44.14 points or 0.1 percent to 42,171.66.
The lackluster close on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged.
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 central bank’s decision came as it noted swings in net exports have affected data but said recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace.
Despite changes to economic growth and inflation forecats, Fed officials still seem to expect to two interest rate cuts this year, lowering the rate to a range of 4.0 percent to 3.75 percent by the end of 2025.
The early strength on Wall Street comes despite ongoing concerns about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened the U.S. with “irreparable damage” if the country engages in the clash after President Donald Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday.
However, Trump told reporters earlier today that Iran has reached out to him about negotiations to end the conflict.
“They want to negotiate,” Trump said. “They even suggested that they come to the White House. That’s courageous. It’s like not easy for them to do.”
On the U.S. economic front, a report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged modestly lower in the week ended June 14th.
The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 245,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 250,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to slip to 245,000 from the 248,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average crept up to 245,500, an increase of 4,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 240,750.
With the uptick, the four-week moving average reached its highest level since hitting 246,000 in the week ended August 19, 2023.
The Commerce Department also released a report showing a steep drop by new residential construction in the U.S. in the month of May.
Banking stocks turned in some of the market’s best performances on the day, with the KBW Bank Index climbing by 1.9 percent.
Telecom and brokerage stocks also moved to the upside, while energy stocks moved to the downside along with the price of crude oil.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.9 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.1 percent.
The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index decreased by 0.5 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries closed little changed following the rebound seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-tear note, which moves opposite of its price, crept up by less than a basis point to 4.397 percent.
SOURCE: RTTNEWS