US markets end mostly lower even though Fed pledges to hold interest rates unchanged at near zero

11 Jun 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday even though the Federal Reserve pledged to hold interest rates unchanged at near zero through 2022, while keeping up at least its current pace of bond buying to support credit markets through the pandemic. The Fed announced its widely expected decision to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at zero to 0.25 percent. The accompanying statement also reiterated that the Fed expects to maintain this target range until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals. Expectations that rates will remain at record lows come as the Fed projects real GDP to nosedive by 6.5 percent in 2020, as the ongoing public health crisis weighs heavily on economic activity.

However, the Fed's projections call for real GDP to rebound by 5.0 percent in 2021 followed by a 3.5 percent jump in 2022. The unemployment rate is expected to drop to 9.3 percent by the end of this year from the current 13.3 percent before pulling back further to 6.5 percent in 2021 and 5.5 percent the next year. On the economic data front, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest decrease in consumer prices in the month of May. The Labor Department said its consumer price index edged down by 0.1 percent in May after slumping by 0.8 percent in April. Street had expected consumer prices to come in unchanged. The dip in consumer prices came amid a continued decrease in energy prices, which tumbled by 1.8 percent in May after plunging by 10.1 percent in the previous month. Prices for gasoline and fuel oil showed notable declines.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 282.31 points or 1.04 percent to 26,989.99 and S&P 500 was down by 17.04 points or 0.53 percent to 3,190.14, while Nasdaq rose 66.59 points or 0.67 percent 10,020.35.

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