Stocks fell Wednesday following the Federal Open Market Committee's January monetary policy decision amid worse-than-expected quarterly earnings. Market participants also became concerned about speculative retail trading leading rallies in heavily shorted stocks. The Dow lost over 600 points, while the S&P 500 lost all of its 2021 gains as investors became weary of a possible coming market correction.

In its January policy statement, the Federal Reserve highlighted on the recent slowdown in economic recovery into the new year. The central bank decided to keep benchmarks interest rates unchanged at their current near-zero level in effort to continue to support the economy. The Fed also recommitted to leaving rates untouched until labor market conditions and inflation trends fall in-line with its targets. The Fed will also maintain its asset purchasing program, allowing for at least $120 billion in buying per month.

Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -2.57% or -98.84 point sto 3,750.78

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): -2.05% or -633.87 points to 30,303.17

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -2.61% or -355.47 points to 13,270.60

For Stocks, heavily shorted stocks like GameStop (GME  ), AMC Entertainment (AMC  ) and Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY  ) continued to soar higher as retail investors sought to squeeze out short sellers. The speculative trader has caused some concern from analysts and may be signalling that the market is overvalued.

For Sector Performance, every sector on the S&P 500 fell below 1% on Wednesday, with Materials (XLB  ), Health Care (XLV  ), Consumer Discretionary (XLY  ) and Communication Services (XLC  ) leading losses by over 3%.

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) ticked higher against riskier currencies on Wednesday following the Fed's latest monetary policy decision. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against other global currencies, rose slightly by 0.51% to 90.61, paring some losses from the previous session. Gold (GLD  ) prices fell on the strengthening dollar and souring outlooks towards near-term economic stimulus. Spot gold declined 0.36% to $1,844.61 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.6% lower at $1,844.90 per ounce. Crude oil prices increased on Wednesday as a massive drawdown in U.S. crude inventories outweighed pandemic demand concerns. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) climbed to $56.25 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) settled 0.5% higher at $52.85 each.

For Thursday, market participants will turn their attention to fresh unemployment data and fourth quarter GDP as well as quarterly earnings from companies like Visa (V  ) and McDonald's (MCD  ).