Wall Street stocks down after Fed minutes Wall Street was lower on Wednesday after the release of the Federal Reserve’s minutes showed central bank officials were divided over the need for more interest rate hikes at their last meeting.
After briefly extending losses following the release of the minutes for the Fed’s July interest rate meeting, the S&P 500 was last down 0.07% at 4,434.69 points.
The Nasdaq declined 0.36% to 13,581.69 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.06% at 34,966.33 points.
The minutes, however, showed most policymakers continued to prioritize the battle against inflation.
“We’ve seen an incredible rally year to date. That’s really bucked all expectations for a bearish reaction to a recession so far this year. A little bit of steam is starting to get let out from that rally,” said Mike Reynolds, vice president of investment strategy at Glenmede.
“Investors are starting to take a more sober look at the economic picture here.”
Bank shares extended losses, with the S&P 500 bank index down 0.7%. Bank of America fell 1.6%, leading losses among bigger banks.
Retailers got a boost from Target’s upbeat quarterly results.
Target shares gained 3.7% after the big-box retailer’s second-quarter profit beat estimates, overshadowing its annual forecast cut.