Wall Street closes down sharply after Fed holds rates unchanged
SPY•Wall Street falls after Fed holds rates steady
July 29 (Reuters) - Wall Street ended sharply lower on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady, with AI-related chip stocks adding to recent declines ahead of quarterly reports from Microsoft and Meta Platforms.
The Fed's widely expected decision to leave the benchmark interest rate in the 3.50%-3.75% range drew dissents from three of the 12 members of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee who "preferred" a quarter-percentage-point hike at this meeting.
The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX hit its lowest level in a month, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC was down about 9% from its June record high.
Markets look ahead to Microsoft and Meta results
Investors had mostly expected the Fed to keep rates unchanged. Inflation has been running above the central bank's target for more than five years, and up until last month it was accelerating as the war in the Middle East pushed up global fuel and food prices.
