- US stocks push lower as investors assess FOMC Chairman Powell’s remarks.
- Powell reiterates Fed is not looking at negative rates.
- Energy shares underperform amid crude oil’s uninspiring performance.
Wall Street’s main indexes opened in the negative territory on Wednesday after FOMC Chairman Powell’s comments on the policy outlook. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were down 0.83 and 0.55% on the day, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite was flat near 9,110 points.
Stocks turn south on Powell’s remarks
Powell reminded markets that the last FOMC meeting minutes showed that all participants were against negative interest rates. FOMC Chairman further reiterated that negative rates were not something they were considering. “Evidence on negative rates is very mixed, concern over negative rates is interrupting intermediation,” Powell explained
Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Energy Index is down 3% as the top-decliner on Wednesday. Earlier today, OPEC in its monthly report said it was expecting the global oil demand to decline by 9.07 million barrels per day and caused crude oil to start erasing early gains.
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