US markets end lower ahead of Fed policy decision

17 Sep 2025 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday ahead of Federal Reserve’s (Fed) monetary policy announcement. Though the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points, traders were waiting for accompanying statement as well as officials' latest economic projections for clues about the outlook for rates. Meanwhile, traders paid no heed to a Commerce Department report showing retail sales rose by much more than expected in the month of August. The Commerce Department said retail sales climbed by 0.6 percent in August, matching an upwardly revised increase in July. In contrast, the street had expected retail sales to inch up by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.5 percent growth originally reported for the previous month. 

On sectoral front, gold stocks showed a significant weakness despite a modest increase by gold prices, dragging down NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index by 2.3 percent. Further, considerable weakness emerged among utilities stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent loss posted by the Dow Jones Utility Average. 

Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 125.55 points or 0.27 percent to 45,757.90, S&P 500 edged down 8.52 points or 0.13 percent to 6,606.76 and Nasdaq slipped 14.79 points or 0.07 percent to 22,333.96.

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