Stocks ended a choppy trading session more towards the negative as tech shares declined and investor sentiment grew cold as traders digested the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy decision, as well as remarks from Chairman Jerome Powell.
Central bank policymakers decided to keep interest rates near zero through 2023, as officials look to boost the impacted economy. In the Fed's monetary policy statement, officials reaffirmed that the health of the economy is dependent on the extent of the coronavirus pandemic. "The ongoing public health crisis will continue to weigh on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term, and poses considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term," the central bank concluded in a statement.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Home Builders's September housing market index skyrocketed to a record high of 83, reflecting the ongoing growth of the housing market despite other parts of the U.S. economy collapsing under the pandemic's weight.
Here's how the market settled for the mid-week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.46% of -15.65 points to 3,385.55
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.135 or +37.38 points to 28,032.98
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -.25% or -139.86 points to 11,050.47
For Major Stock News, big tech continued to drive the broader market, but this time more towards negative territory as shares fell: Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ: APPL), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX). KB Home (NYSE: KBH) shares got a healthy boost from Evercore ISI after the firm rated the stock as Outperform and noted that, "Today, as the global economy reels from COVID-19, the U.S. hosing industry stands tall." Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW) became the largest every software IPO, more than doubling its initial price to begin trading at $245 per share.
For Sector Performance, industries ended the overall choppy session mixed. Those who left with positive gains were Energy +4.05%, Financials +1.11%, Industrials +0.99%, Real Estate +0.54% and Materials +0.07%. The rest of the sectors settled with losses: Information Technology -1.56%, Communication Services -1.21%, Consumer Discretionary -1.02%, Consumer Staples -0.51%, Health Care -0.22% and Utilities -0.21%.
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) gained Wednesday after the central bank pledged to keep interest rates near zero while expecting the U.S. economy to recover more rapidly than previously forecasted. The dollar index rose 0.07% against other global competitors. Gold (NYSE: GLD) fell flat after Wednesday's session as lower interest rates usually benefit the greenback over the yellow metal. Spot gold was up 0.1% to $1,958.29 per ounce, while gold futures settled 0.1% higher at $1,968.20. Crude oil futures were the only ones to leave the session with substantial changes, following a lowering of U.S. crude and gasoline inventories and a new Gulf Coast hurricane that has forced a shutdown of U.S. offshore oil production. Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) climbed 4.17% to $42.22 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) jumped 4.9% at settle at $40.16.
For Thursday, investors will turn their attention to new weekly jobless claims as well as fresh data on housing starts.