Wall St slips as US Fed ends bond buying – New York Report
US STOCKS closed with slight losses yesterday, finishing off their lows of the session, after the Federal Reserve ended its stimulative monthly bond-buying programme and expressed confidence in American economic prospects.
In a statement after a two-day meeting, the Fed ended its quantitative easing programme of bond purchases, as had been expected. At its peak, the programme pumped $85bn a month into the financial system.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 31.44 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 16,974.31, the S&P 500 lost 2.75 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 1,982.3 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 15.07 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 4,549.23.
Material shares fell 1.3 per cent after DuPont said there were “competitive advantages” to keeping its businesses together. Activist investor Nelson Peltz has urged DuPont to separate its various businesses in a move that has supported the company’s shares. Shares of DuPont lost 1.7 per cent to $66.80.
Facebook fell 6.1 per cent to $75.86 the day after the social network announced an increase in spending in 2015 and projected a slowdown in revenue growth this quarter.
After the market closed, shares of Visa rose 3.6 per cent to $222.40 after it reported its fourth-quarter results and announcing a stock buyback programme of $5bn.
Hershey shares fell 3.3 per cent to $92.37 after the chocolate maker cut its full-year earnings and revenue growth forecasts.