Stocks Mixed as Fed Won’t Cut Rates
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Wednesday modestly lower following the Federal Reserve’s latest policy update, where the central bank kept interest rates steady and Chair Jerome Powell signaled it would wait to see the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on inflation before proceeding on rates.
The 30-stock index withered 44.14 points as Wednesday’s closing bell at 42,171.66.
The S&P 500 index sank 1.85 points to 5,980.87.
The NASDAQ Composite ended positive 25.18 points, to 19,546.27.
Meta Platforms is reportedly poaching staff from OpenAI with lucrative signing bonuses that have totaled as much as $100 million U.S. Meta shares galloped $2.89 to $700.12.
The Fed left its key rate unchanged Wednesday in a range between 4.25%-4.5%, as markets expected. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a mixed bag of news for investors, as the central bank still signaled two rate cuts this year while simultaneously hinting at a stagflationary threat.
The policymakers lowered the 2025 forecast for economic growth to just 1.4% and raised the core inflation outlook to 3.1%.
Stocks are coming off a downbeat session Tuesday as the Israel-Iran conflict mounted.
The attacks between the two countries entered their sixth day Wednesday as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that Iran won’t surrender and warned that the U.S. will “undoubtedly be met with irreparable damage” if it enters the conflict.
This comes after President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform Tuesday to threaten the Iranian leader, saying that “our patience is wearing thin” and calling for “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Current and former administration officials also told media outlets that Trump is weighing options on Iran, including whether to launch a military strike.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were lower, lifting yields back to Tuesday’s 4.39%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped four cents to $74.80 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $22.40 to $3,384.50 U.S. an ounce.
