US markets end lower as Fed Minutes weighs

06 Jul 2023 Evaluate

The US markets ended in red on Wednesday after the minutes from the Federal Reserve's June meeting showed most members thought further hikes are on the way, but considering the lagged impact of policy and other concerns, chose to pause after enacting 10 straight rate increases. The minutes showed the officials felt that leaving the target range unchanged at this meeting would allow them more time to assess the economy's progress toward the Committee's goals of maximum employment and price stability. The minutes said that participants favoring a 25 basis point increase noted that the labor market remained very tight, momentum in economic activity had been stronger than earlier anticipated, and there were few clear signs that inflation was on a path to return to the Committee's 2 percent objective over time.

Further, weakness also prevailed in the markets as the Commerce Department released a report showing new orders for U.S. manufactured goods increased by much less than expected in the month of May. The Commerce Department said factory orders rose by 0.3 percent in May after rising by a downwardly revised 0.3 percent in April. Street had expected factory orders to climb by 0.8 percent compared to the 0.4 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. On the stock specific developments, Intel dropped more than 3 percent and 3M ended lower by about 2.5 percent. Nike, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, United Health and Caterpillar lost 1 to 2 percent. However, Meta climbed more than 3 percent, hitting a 52-week high in the process. Microsoft ended modestly higher.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 129.83 points or 0.38 percent to 34,288.64, Nasdaq dropped 25.12 points or 0.18 percent to 13,791.65 and S&P 500 was down by 8.77 points or 0.2 percent to 4,446.82.


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