The S&P 500 faced its biggest decline since October while the Dow and Nasdaq tumbled as the Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged and didn't promise the economy further stimulus aid.
The Federal Reserve acknowledged the weakening of economic data during Wednesday's FOMC meeting, suggesting that it's too soon to be discussing changes to the current stance of monetary policy.
"The data from here through the second and third quarters should be strong, but for now, however, the Fed appears to be merely watching and promoting the efforts of the new Administration and Treasury as they institute proactive fiscal support," said Rick Rieder, BlackRock's chief investment officer of global fixed income.
"The fact is that with the passage of the last fiscal stimulus package in December (after the Fed last met), and the debate heating up over the prospects and size of the next one, the focus is firmly on the fiscal side of the equation now," he added.
Retail traders continued to dominate market headlines, sending heavily-shorted stocks soaring for the third consecutive day. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is "monitoring the situation" around the GameStop-related changes in the stock market.
Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Wednesday:
- S&P 500: 3,750.95, down 2.56%
- Dow Jones industrial average: 30,302.97, down 2.05% (634.07 points)
- Nasdaq composite: 13,270.60, down 2.61%
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Nokia jumped as high as 86%. The Finnish telecommunications company has become the latest legacy tech star on Reddit's WallStreetBets forum.
Here's a list of 10 highly shorted stocks that are soaring as Reddit traders wage war against top Wall Street hedge funds.
TD Ameritrade restricted access to GameStop and AMC on Wednesday , "out of an abundance of caution amid unprecedented market conditions and other factors," according to a statement from the trading platform.
Bitcoin climbed to $31,297.06 after dropping below $30,000 after the Wednesday open. The cryptocurrency has lost nearly $200 billion in market value over the past three weeks.
Spot gold sank 0.49%, to $1,841.80 per ounce. The US dollar weakened slightly against Group-of-20 currency peers and Treasury yields wavered.
West Texas Intermediate crude was up just 0.1%, to $52.67 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, dipped 0.67%, to $55.59 per barrel, at intraday lows.
Now read more markets coverage from Markets Insider and Business Insider:
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