The US markets ended deeply in red on Wednesday, extending their previous session’s losses, as traders finally seemed to be paying attention to concerns about the impact of new, more contagious coronavirus strains along with uncertainty about the prospects for a new relief package. Traders were also worried about recent speculative trading by retail investors amid continued spikes by heavily shorted stocks like GameStop and AMC Entertainment. Markets saw further downside in late-day trading following the Federal Reserve's first monetary policy announcement of the New Year. The Fed left interest rates unchanged as widely expected and revealed it plans to maintain its asset purchase program at the current pace. Trades have been disappointed the central bank did not provide additional clarity about the outlook for its bond purchases.
The Fed's statement reiterated the assertion first made last month, when the Fed said it will maintain asset purchases at the current rate until substantial further progress has been made toward its goals of maximum employment and price stability. On the economic data front, a report released by the Commerce Department showed new orders for manufactured durable goods rose by much less than expected in the month of December. The Commerce Department said durable goods orders edged up by 0.2 percent in December after surging by an upwardly revised 1.2 percent in November. Street had expected durable goods orders to increase by 0.9 percent compared to the 1.0 percent jump that had been reported for the previous month.
Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 633.87 points or 2.05 percent to 30,303.17, Nasdaq declined 355.47 points or 2.61 percent to 13,270.6 and S&P 500 was down by 98.85 points or 2.57 percent to 3,750.77.
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