NEW YORK: US stocks ended mixed Wednesday after the Federal Reserve maintained virtually zero interest rates amid a “weak” economy and offered no leads about any change in its aggressive pump priming efforts.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 23.05 points (0.28 per cent) to 8,299.86 as it gave up a triple-digit gain and extended its losing streak to four straight sessions. The tech-dominant Nasdaq rose 27.42 points (1.55 per cent) to 1,792.34 while the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 added 5.84 points (0.65 per cent) to 900.94.
The blue chip Dow succumbed to selling pressure after the Federal Reserve’s policy making panel decided Wednesday to maintain its aggressive effort to lift the US economy out of recession and held its base rate in the record low 0 to 0.25 per cent range, traders said.
“Bonds appeared to be rattled by the Fed’s comments on inflation,” said Scott Marcouiller at Wells Fargo Advisors. “While policymakers predicted ’subdued inflation for some time,’ they did note that energy and other commodity prices have risen.”
Concluding a two-day meeting, the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee, as widely expected, left the base federal funds rate in a range of zero to 0.25 per cent. The Fed offered no indication it would ramp up or scale back its effort to pump more liquidity into the financial system, an effort that began with a pledge this year to buy up more than US$1 trillion in US government and agency securities in an effort to push down interest rates.
Some were disappointed because “the Fed did not change the size or timing of its asset purchases as some had expected,” analysts at Charles Schwab & Co noted. Stocks were in positive territory before the Fed statement, buoyed by a government report that showed orders for US long-lasting manufactured goods surging unexpectedly in May. The Commerce Department said durable goods orders rose a seasonally adjusted 1.8 per cent in May from April. Most analysts had projected a decline of 0.9 per cent. -- AFP
About Me
- Nuang
- Ibrahim bin Ramli@Nuang started his career with CIMB Wealth Advisors Berhad as Agency Manager in April, 2008.Previously he was an Internal Auditors and Accounts Executive with Perodua Sales Sdn Bhd since 17 August, 1994. His background:- 1.Certified of Achievement for Master Sales Leadership from Dr Lawrence Walter Ng of President of The Art Of Learning and International Of Learning Without Learning 2.Certified for eXtra Ordinary Performance of Lawrence Walter Award Certificate for One Million Ringgit Club 2007 3. Certified Life & General insurances 4. Conferred with Diploma in Business Studiess & Bachelor of Business Admin(Hons)Finance from UiTM, Terengganu Branch & Shah Alam respectively;
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