US stocks waver to end lower after Fed's big rate cut
In a rollercoaster day for the stock market, the S&P 500 closed down 0.3% after briefly setting a new intraday record high following the Federal Reserve’s half-percentage-point rate cut.
The Nasdaq 100 lost 0.5%. Small caps outperformed the broader market but ended the day flat, erasing earlier gains of as much as 2.4% shortly after Fed Chair Jay Powell's remarks began.
The median FOMC member thinks that it would be appropriate to cut rates by another half percent by the end of this year, according to the Fed’s “dot plot,” which maps out policymakers’ expectations for interest rates.
Treasury yields fell in a knee-jerk reaction to the Fed decision but climbed back afterwards to end slightly up on the day.
Crude oil fell. The WTI crude futures for October contract settled down 0.4% to $70.9 per barrel, while the Brent futures for November contract slid 0.1% to $73.7 per barrel.
Most S&P 500 sector ETFs retreated during the last minutes of trading. Energy was the only one that advanced, adding 0.2%. Technology dropped the most, by 0.9%.
