US markets end lower after Fed chief dashes traders' hopes for near-term interest rate cut

02 May 2019 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower with cut of over half a percent on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell dashed traders' hopes for a near-term interest rate cut. Powell said the Fed sees transitory factors contributing to recent low inflation readings. Powell said the Fed would take persistently low inflation into account when setting policy but currently expects inflation to return to the 2 percent objective. The comments from Powell came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged. The Fed maintained the target range for the federal funds rate at 2.25 to 2.50 percent for the third consecutive meeting. The central bank said information received since its previous meeting in March showed economic activity rose at a solid rate. After the March meeting, the Fed noted the pace of economic growth had slowed from the solid rate in the fourth quarter. The Fed said in its latest statement that the labor market remains strong but pointed out slower first quarter growth in household spending and business fixed investment.

Besides, a report released by the Commerce Department showed an unexpected pullback in US construction spending in the month of March. The report said construction spending slumped by 0.9 percent to an annual rate of $1.282 trillion in March after climbing by 0.7 percent to a revised rate of $1.293 trillion in February. Street had expected spending to inch up by 0.1 percent. The unexpected decrease in construction spending was partly due to a steep drop in spending on private residential construction, which plunged by 1.8 percent to a rate of $500.9 billion. However, after reporting weaker than expected job growth in the previous month, payroll processor ADP released a report showing private sector employment jumped by much more than anticipated in the month of April. ADP said private sector employment surged up by 275,000 jobs in April after climbing by an upwardly revised 151,000 jobs in March. Street had expected employment to increase by about 180,000 jobs compared to the addition of 129,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 162.77 points or 0.61 percent to 26430.14, Nasdaq dropped 45.75 points or 0.57 percent to 8049.64 and S&P 500 was down by 22.10 points or 0.75 percent to 2923.73.

© 2026 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×