NEW YORK: U.S. stocks ended Wednesday’s choppy session slightly lower, as modest post-Fed-minutes gains evaporated by the close of the trading day.
Widely anticipated minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting revealed a rate hike in June is ‘unlikely’ as officials were concerned about weaker economic growth during the first quarter.
Investors read the minutes as confirmation of expectations that a rate hike won’t arrive until later this year, briefly sending all three main indexes into record-high territory. The last time the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq closed at record levels on the same day was on Dec. 31, 1999.However, markets turned south.
Some market watchers attributed the tick lower to news reports, including from CNBC, that the government agency that calculates gross domestic growth product data is aware of problems surrounding compilation and tabulation of data.
The S&P 500 SPX, -0.09% closed down 1.98 points, off 0.1%, at 2,125.85. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.15% ended down 26.99 points, or 0.2%, at 18,285.40, a day after registering record highs Monday and Tuesday.
Breaking from the pack, the Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.03% closed 1.71 points higher at 5,071.74.
