U.S. stocks ended lower on Wednesday, but off their lows, after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged in its first policy meeting of the year. All three major indexes ended in negative territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) slid 0.3% or 136.83 points, to end at 44,713.52.
The S&P 500 declined 0.5% or 28.39 points, to finish at 6,039.31 points. Real estate and tech stocks were the worst performers.
The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) lost 0.8%, while the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE) gave up 1.2%. Seven of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in negative territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.5% or 101.26 points to close at 19,632.32 points.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 0.91% to 16.56. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 1.6-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, a 1.39-to-1 ratio favored declining issues. A total of 13 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 15.5 billion.
Socks fell sharply on Wednesday morning after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged for the first time since launching its easing cycle in September. The Fed’s decision was highly anticipated, but stocks declined sharply after the announcement.
The Federal Reserve initiated three consecutive interest rate cuts last year that reduced its benchmark policy rate by a full percentage point. However, some of the earlier losses were pared following positive comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Powell said at the post-meeting press conference that “we do not need to be in a hurry to adjust our policy stance” and that the monetary policy was well positioned for future uncertainties.
Powell also explained the reason behind keeping rates unchanged by saying, “The unemployment rate has stabilized at a low level in recent months, and labor market conditions remain solid,” while inflation was still “elevated.”
Shares of NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) took a beating once again on Wednesday, ending the session down 4.1%. The decline came on reports that the Trump administration has discussed slashing sales of chips of the company to China following the rise of the DeepSeek AI model.
The semiconductor giant’s shares are over 14% for the week. NVIDIA has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Investors are also closely watching the corporate earnings. Some big companies like Apple Inc. (AAPL), Intel Corporation (INTC), Mastercard Incorporated (MA) and Visa, Inc. (V) are scheduled to report quarterly results this week.
