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U.S. stocks close mixed after Fed decision

Xinhua, May 3, 2017 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks closed mixed on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged as widely expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 8.01 points, or 0.04 percent, to 20,957.90. The S&P 500 lost 3.04 points, or 0.13 percent, to 2,388.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 22.82 points, or 0.37 percent, to 6,072.55.

The U.S. central bank on Wednesday left its benchmark interest rates unchanged as it waited for more data to assess the U.S. economic outlook.

"The Committee views the slowing in growth during the first quarter as likely to be transitory and continues to expect that, with gradual adjustments in the stance of monetary policy, economic activity will expand at a moderate pace," the Fed's policy-making committee said in a statement released after its two-day meeting.

The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in the first quarter of this year, lower than the 2.1 percent growth in the previous quarter and the weakest performance in three years, the Commerce Department said last week.

Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the U.S. economy, increased only 0.3 percent in the first quarter, the smallest increase since the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the department.

But Fed played down the significance of weak consumer spending, saying "the fundamentals underpinning the continued growth of consumption remain solid."

The Fed also said the inflation measured on a 12-month basis "has been running close to" the central bank's target of two percent, as the unemployment rate has fallen to a level Fed officials see as consistent with full employment.

Meanwhile, U.S. private sector employment increased by 177,000 jobs from March to April on a seasonally adjusted basis, above the market consensus of 175,000, according to the March ADP National Employment Report released on Wednesday.

The Automatic Data Processing (ADP) figure is widely seen as a pre-indicator for the non-farm payrolls report due on Friday.

In corporate news, Apple posted better-than-expected adjusted earnings per share, but iPhone sales missed analyst expectations. Endit