Wall Street sank on Wednesday when Federal Reserve policy makers gave mixed signals about their next move after cutting interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point in a widely expected move. With continued economic growth and strong hiring "the most likely outcomes," the Fed nevertheless cited "uncertainties" about the outlook and pledged to "act as appropriate" to sustain the expansion.
New projections showed policymakers at the median expected rates to stay within the new range through 2020, bad news for investors hoping for additional cuts to help blunt economic fallout from the US-China trade. "The main concern (for stock investors) is there might not be another cut, and that's why you had a little bit of a selloff," said Alan Lancz, President of Alan B. Lancz and Associates in Toledo, Ohio. Expectations of lower rates have supported Wall Street's rally this year, with the benchmark S&P 500 less than 2% below its record high close in July.
At 2:21 pm ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.63% at 26,940.15 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.72% to 2,984.16.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.02% to 8,102.75.
Ahead of the Fed's announcement, the S&P 500 had been down about 0.3%.
Ten of the 11 major S&P sectors were in the red, with the S&P utilities index up 0.1% and alone among gainers.
FedEx shares tumbled 13.9% and were on course for their sharpest one-day percentage drop since the financial crisis after the company blamed US-China trade tensions and a split with Amazon.com Inc for its dismal full-year profit forecast.