The Nasdaq slid 101.26 points or 0.5% to 19,632.32, the S&P 500 fell 28.39 points or 0.5% to 6,039.31 and the Dow dipped 136.83 points or 0.3% to 44,713.52.
The Fed maintained the federal funds rate at 4.25'4.50% to support maximum employment and its 2% inflation target, citing inflation as somewhat elevated. Committed to bringing inflation down, the central bank will reassess policy at its March 18-19 meeting, where officials will update their projections. CME Group's FedWatch Tool shows a 77.6% chance of unchanged rates and a 22.3% chance of a 0.25% cut.
Nvidia(NVDA) slumped along with AI darling and the market leader tumbled by 4% after surging 8.8% on Tuesday. Nvidia came under pressure after a report from Bloomberg said Trump administration officials are exploring additional curbs on the sale of the company's chips to China.
Housing stocks significantly moved downwards, dragging the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index down by 2.2%. Telecom stocks were considerably weak, as reflected by .5% loss posted by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index. Software and commercial real estate stocks also saw notable weakness on the day while airline and computer hardware stocks moved to the upside.
Asia-Pacific stocks moved mostly higher on Wednesday, with several markets closed for holidays. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index shot up by 1.0%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed by 0.6%. The major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3%, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3% and the German DAX Index jumped by 1.0%.
In the bond market, treasuries showed a lack of direction before eventually closing roughly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note which moves opposite of its price, crept up by less than a basis point to 4.55%.
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