US Stocks Hold Pullback After Fed

2026-03-18 18:12 By Andre Joaquim 1 min. read

US equities remained lower on Wednesday after the FOMC held interest rates unchanged and maintained its median projections of a rate cut this year.

The S&P 500 fell 0.7% and the Dow dropped nearly 1%, while tech supported the Nasdaq 100 to a softer 0.4% drop.

A large group of FOMC members projected no rate cuts for this year to reflect a degree of concern that the surge in energy prices would significantly impact consumer inflation, aligning with markets.

This was magnified by an aggressively hot PPI released today.

Still, signs of a soft labor market balanced concerns in both sides of the Fed mandate to hold uncertainty in their policy outlook.

Strikes in Iranian energy infrastructure triggered another increase in key energy prices and lifted yields, pressuring equities across the board.

Visa and Mastercard fell 3% each to set the pace for credit services, while B&G and Walmart fell over 2% each for a pessimistic session for defensive stocks.

Micron gained 1.5% ahead of its earnings.



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