Wall Street stocks finished a choppy session mostly lower while the dollar retreated Wednesday after the Federal Reserve’s latest decision to hold interest rates steady.
US equities had rallied following a comment from Fed Chair Jerome Powell dismissing further interest rate hikes as “unlikely.” But equities soon gave up those gains, leaving two of the three major indices in the red at the close.
The Fed, as expected, kept interest rates flat for the sixth straight meeting.
The central bank’s prior outlook had projected three interest rate cuts in 2024. But inflation has accelerated, throwing cold water on hopes of an early rate cut this year.
Heading into Wednesday’s policy announcement, analysts had pointed to a hawkish comment on the likelihood of a rate hike as a potential risk for stocks.
However, Powell told a press conference that the central bank’s next change would probably not be an interest rate increase.
He maintained that monetary policy needs more time to do its job, adding that the Fed will consider the totality of economic data when making decisions.
Art Hogan of B. Riley Financial said stocks often “whipsaw” right after Fed decisions.
“At the end of the day we’re back to where we were before the meeting… and that’s basically higher for longer” in terms of interest rates, Hogan said.
With most continental European stock markets shut for May Day, London was the only major European exchange open, and the benchmark FTSE 100 stocks index closed slightly lower, as it gave up early gains to follow Wall Street lower.
The dollar, which has gained in recent days, pulled back following Powell’s press conference.
“The Fed didn’t seem too perturbed by inflation that’s seemingly started to stall at elevated levels,” said a note from Forex.com strategist James Stanley.
The pullback in the US currency included a brief drop of three percent against the yen to 153.04 yen amid speculation of intervention by Japanese authorities. However, the rally in the Japanese currency proved fleeting.
In commodities, oil prices slid more than three percent after US petroleum data pointed to week demand.
Among individual companies, Starbucks plunged 15.9 percent as it reported a drop in profits, pointing to weakening consumer sentiment and lackluster conditions in China as factors behind an earnings miss.
Johnson & Johnson gained 4.6 percent after announcing a plan to pay $6.5 billion to settle claims related to ovarian cancer due to the company’s talc products. If 75 percent of claimants favor the plan, J&J can file a “prepackaged” Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline closed up 1.6 percent after it announced progress in final trials of promising new drugs, even as profit fell 23 percent in the first quarter.
– Key figures around 2105 GMT –
New York – Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 37,903.29 (close)
New York – Dow: S&P 500 DOWN 0.3 percent at 5,018.39 (close)
New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 15,605.48 (close)
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 8,121.24 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: Closed for a holiday
Frankfurt – DAX: Closed for a holiday
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 38,274.05 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holiday
Shanghai – Composite: Closed for a holiday
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 155.18 yen from 157.80 yen on Tuesday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0719 from $1.0666
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2523 from $1.2492
Euro/pound: UP at 85.54 pence from 85.38 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 3.6 percent at $79.00 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 3.3 percent at $83.44 per barrel
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