Stocks fall on Wall Street ahead of Fed policy statement
Stocks fell in afternoon trading on Wall Street Wednesday as investors wait to hear from the Federal Reserve after its last policy meeting of the year
BANGKOK — Stocks fell in afternoon trading on Wall Street Wednesday as investors wait to hear from the Federal Reserve after its last policy meeting of the year.
The S&P 500 index fell 0.2% as of 1:32 p.m. Eastern and is coming off of two days of losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 27 points, or less than 0.1%, to 35,515 and the Nasdaq fell 0.7%.
Retailers and other companies that rely on consumer spending fell. The slip follows the latest retail sales report from the Commerce Department. Sales rose a modest 0.3% in November, but fell short of economists’ forecasts amid concerns that rising costs could crimp consumer spending.
Amazon.com fell 1.7%, General Motors fell 1.4%. Coach and Kate Spade owner Tapestry shed 3.6%.
Big communications companies were also among the biggest weights on the market. Facebook parent Meta fell 0.9% and Google parent Alphabet shed 1%.
The price of U.S. crude oil fell 0.4% and sent energy stocks lower. Hess fell 2.6%.
Bond yields edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.45% from 1.44% late Tuesday.
Health care companies made solid gains. Eli Lilly jumped 9.8% after giving investors an encouraging update on its financial forecasts and drug development.
Rising inflation and its impact on the broader economy and markets will be a key focus when the Federal Reserve releases a statement later Wednesday as it ends its last two-day meeting of the year.
The central bank is widely expected to announce a faster pullback of its stimulus measures as inflationary pressures build. That would include hastening plans to trim bond purchases that have kept interest rates in check.
Investors will also be listening for any clues to the Fed’s timeline in 2022 for raising benchmark interest rates.
Concerns over the impact from the Fed’s actions, along with the latest coronavirus variant, have made for choppy trading as the market approaches the close of 2021.
