The US markets closed choppy trading session sharply lower on Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve’s policy-making committee reiterated it plans to remain patient and watch the data as it decides when to raise interest rates. A renewed slide in oil prices also sent energy and materials stocks sharply lower. The Federal Reserve gave no sign that it was wavering over whether to hike interest rates later this year, despite rockiness in global markets and some recent disappointing economic data. The policy statement released by the central bank made few changes from the prior statement in December, but what changes there were leaned toward the hawkish direction. The policy makers remained optimistic about inflation, repeating that their favorite measure of prices will move back gradually to the 2% annual target rate after being pushed down by transitory factors. In one victory for the doves, the Fed added that it would consider international developments in assessing when to hike rates. As was widely expected, the statement repeated that the central bank can be patient in hiking rates. This effectively takes rate hikes off the table for the next two policy meetings in March and late April. Interest rates have been near zero since the end of 2008.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost by 195.84 points or 1.13 percent to 17,191.37, the Nasdaq Composite was down by 43.51 points or 0.93 percent at 4,637.99 while, the S&P 500 dropped 27.39 points or 1.35 percent, to close at 2,002.16.
Indian ADRs closed mostly in red on Wednesday; HDFC Bank was down by 1.43%, Tata Motors was down 0.64% and ICICI Bank was down 0.20%. On the other hand, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.44% and Wipro was up by 0.24%.
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