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US-STOCKS-MARKETS
US stocks end lower as Fed lifts interest rates again
NEW YORK, Sept 27, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Wall Street stocks finished lower
Wednesday after the Federal Reserve lifted interest rates again and signaled
it expects to continue raising rates gradually amid solid US growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.4 percent at 26,385.28.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.3 percent to 2,905.97, while the tech-rich
Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.2 percent at 7,990.37.
The Fed, as expected, boosted the lending rate to 2.0 percent to 2.25
percent. It once again said “further gradual increases” would allow continued
expansion of the economy while keeping inflation around the Fed’s two percent
target.
But Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank was hearing a “rising
chorus” of concerns from businesses around the country about uncertainty and
rising costs, but that the myriad trade conflicts had yet to significantly
weigh on US economic data.
The announcement “was pretty well telegraphed,” said JJ Kinahan, chief
market strategist at TD Ameritrade, told AFP.
On Twitter, Kinahan said the Fed’s shift in policy direction from one of
loose money made sense in that “the market just doesn’t seem to need so much
support now.”
Stocks stayed in positive territory most of the day, but tumbled into the
red in the final minutes following Powell’s news conference, a sudden change
in direction that is not unusual on the day of Fed decisions.
Large banks retreated as 10-year bond yields fell, with JPMorgan Chase,
Citigroup and Bank of America all shedding more than one percent.
Dow member Nike fell 1.3 percent after reporting a 15 percent jump in
earnings for the first quarter of the 2019 fiscal year to $1.1 billion, with
the company’s profit margin lagging some analysts’ expectations.
BSS/AFP/HR/1005