Wall Street closed yesterday in negative territory a volatile session marked by the first interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve (Fed) in four yearswhich although initially well received by investors ended up sowing concern that it might turn out to be a reflection of the weakness of the economy.
After the bell rang, the The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.25% to 41,503 points; the S&P 500 index fell 0.29% to 5,618 points; and the Nasdaq technology index fell 0.31%.up to 17,573 units.
The Fed announced on Wednesday a half-point cut in US interest rates, the first after a cycle of eleven increases that began in March 2022, when inflation was out of control due to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
(Read: Government and Congressmen agree on strategies for the Economic Recovery Plan)
The reference rate has thus been set since Wednesday in a range of 4.75% to 5%. Although the central bank’s cut was in line with analysts’ expectations, it failed to boost stocks.
By sectors, Losses predominated, led by public services (-0.77%) and technology (-0.51%), while only energy (0.25%) and communications (0.02%) closed in the green. Among the 30 Dow stocks, the most notable gainers were Apple (1.8%) and Walt Disney (0.78%), as well as the losses of Intel (-3.26%) and Honeywell (-1.27%).
In other markets, At the close of trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond rose to 3.719%, gold fell to $2,574 an ounce and the euro was trading at $1.111.
EFE
