TOY:CC - S&P Little Changed as Fed Pauses Rate Hikes
Stocks gyrated on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve paused its rate-hiking campaign and signaled it was making progress on fighting inflation.
But at the same time, the central bank indicated it would hike another two times later this year.
The Dow Jones Industrials dumped 232.79 points to finish Wednesday at 33,979.23, dragged down by losses in UnitedHealth.
The S&P 500 squeezed higher 3.58 points to 4,372.59.
The NASDAQ index finished in the green 53.16 points to 13,626.48.
As traders were expecting, the Fed kept interest rates unchanged at a target range of 5%-5.25% on Wednesday afternoon, ending a streak of 10 consecutive hikes.
Despite the pause, the markets' initial reaction was lower as investors focused on the central bank's projections for the rest of the year, which indicated the Fed would restart rate hikes before long.
The Fed next meets July 25-26. The S&P 500 is up more than 13% this year and more than 25% from its bear market low as investors bet the Fed would soon stop hiking rates.
Investors received more encouraging inflation data on Wednesday. May's producer price index, an indicator of the path of inflation, fell 0.3%, a larger decrease than expected. Economists polled by Dow Jones anticipated a decline of 0.1%. On Tuesday, May's reading of the consumer price index, which showed the lowest annual increase in more than two years, bolstered investor hopes that the Fed will not raise interest rates.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, dropping yields to 3.80% from Tuesday's 3.83%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 63 cents to $68.79 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices eked up 40 cents to $1,959.00 U.S. an ounce.