Wall Street Close: S&P 500 touches record high, closes towards lows on bearish FOMC

• Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3% to end at 27,694.46 points.
• S&P 500 fell 0.44% to 3,374.96.
• The Nasdaq Composite sank 0.57%, to 11,146.46.

The US benchmarks ended lower on Wall Street on Wednesday following the Federal Reserve’s apparent concern for the path of the US economic recovery and uncertainties pertaining to the coronavirus. 

In the minutes of the July Fed meeting, the policy committee not only ruled out immediate and additional policy measures such as the yield-curve control but also suggested an ongoing weak economic backdrop whereby inflation remains persistently low.

Subsequently, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3% to end at 27,694.46 points, while the S&P 500 fell 0.44% to 3,374.96.The Nasdaq Composite sank 0.57%, to 11,146.46.

Earlier in the session, the S&P 500 scored an intraday record of 3,399.54 and Nasdaq hot a fresh record of 11,257.422.

Dovish on balance

Analysts at ANZ bank argue that ”the FOMC minutes released this morning were dovish on balance, hinting that the Fed’s economic projections could be downgraded come September.”

The use of additional forward guidance was discussed: ‘a number of participants noted that providing greater clarity regarding the likely path of the target range for the federal funds rate would be appropriate at some point’.

And so too was yield-curve control, but there appears to be little enthusiasm for it. Like everywhere else in the world, policy officials remain at the mercy of virus developments.

S&P 500 levels