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Stock Market News: Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Hit Record Closes
Stocks rallied after the Federal Reserve held rates steady and kept its earlier forecast of three cuts this year. Bond yields fell.
Last Updated:
March 20, 2024 at 7:33 PM EDT
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Stocks rallied Wednesday after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. The three major indexes all notched record closing highs.
For live coverage and analysis of the Fed meeting, click here.
Elsewhere, shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill surged after the restaurant chain announced a 50-for-1 stock split. The company says it would be one of the biggest splits in the history of the New York Stock Exchange.
And Kering SA cautioned about a slump in demand for its Gucci brand, sending shares lower, along with LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior.
After the bell, Micron reports earnings.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite marked record closes Wednesday for the first time since 2021.
The Dow closed 400 points higher, or 1%. The S&P 500 rose 0.9%, marking back-to-back record closes. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.3%.
Bond yields fell, with the 10-year note down to 4.276% from 4.298% a day before. The 2-year was down to 4.621%.
The three major indexes headed toward fresh records after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady and projected three cuts this year.
Chair Jerome Powell’s comments at the press conference suggested policymakers are not deterred by the strong labor market or recent higher-than-expected inflation.
He mentioned that strong hiring alone wouldn’t delay rate cuts and noted easing in overall price growth.
"The fact that he didn’t lean on the hawkish data, even with plenty of it, is the core takeaway from today’s meeting,” wrote Frances Donald, global chief economist and strategist for Manulife Investment Management.
Treasury yields fall as Chair Powell repeats the pledge to bring inflation down to 2%.
The FOMC keeps is projection for the median fed funds rate at 4.6% by year end, which implies three cuts of 25 basis points each.
On the CME's FedWatch tool, odds of another hold in May are priced at 91%, while odds of an initial cut in June increase to 62% from 56% yesterday.
Fed fund futures for December match the FOMC's 4.6% forecast. Weekly jobless claims tomorrow are expected to increase.
Today, the 10-year yield loses 0.025 percentage point to 4.271% and the two-year falls 0.088 p.p. to 4.604%.
Crude oil futures settle lower after rising this week to their highest level in nearly five months.
"Today's price pullback still looked corrective despite a weak expiration of the April WTI contract," Ritterbusch says in a note.
The EIA's report of a 2 million barrel draw on U.S. crude stocks for last week, while slightly bigger than expected, was close to average and had little apparent impact, the firm adds.
WTI for April goes off the board at $81.68 a barrel, down 2.1%, and the May contract settles down 1.8% at $81.27. May Brent falls 1.6% to $85.95 a barrel.