Dow Drops Over 300 Points After Fed Raises Key Overnight Interest Rate By 50 bps
U.S. stocks turned lower toward the end of trading, after the Federal Reserve announced its policy decision.
The Dow traded down 0.99% to 33,771.65 while the NASDAQ fell 1.52% to 11,085.67. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 1.12% to 3,974.57.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Health care shares rose by 0.2% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNA), up 62%, and Icosavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:ICVX), up 61%.
In trading on Wednesday, materials shares fell by 1%.
Top Headline
The Federal Reserve raised its target fed funds rate by 0.5% on Wednesday to a new range of between 4.25% and 4.5%.
The Fed said it will continue with its previously announced plan to let Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities roll off its balance sheet on a monthly basis.
Equities Trading UP
- Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNA) shares shot up 59% to $17.47 after the company announced AOC 1001 data from the preliminary assessment of the Phase 1/2 MARINA trial demonstrating the first-ever successful targeted delivery of RNA into muscle.
- Shares of Vallon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:VLON) got a boost, shooting 92% to $0.4828 after the company entered into a definitive merger agreement with GRI Bio.
- Immix Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:IMMX) shares were also up, gaining 31% to $1.9392 after the company announced it has in-licensed BCMA-targeted next-generation CAR-T therapy NXC-201 with 85% ORR and 71% CR/sCR at the therapeutic dose from the first 20 patients in an ongoing phase 1b relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma ongoing clinical trial.
Equities Trading DOWN
- Netcapital Inc. (NASDAQ:NCPL) shares tumbled 36% to $1.41 after the company announced pricing of a public offering.
- Shares of Drive Shack Inc. (NYSE:DS) were down 57% to $0.2038. The company announced its intention to voluntarily delist from the NYSE and to deregister its common stock.
- Kaspien Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:KSPN) was down, falling 24% to $0.7480 after the company reported a wider Q3 loss.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 2.7% to $77.40 while gold traded down 0.3% at $1,820.30.
Silver traded up 0.5% to $24.10 on Wednesday while copper rose 1% to $3.8790.
Stocks of crude oil in the US increased by 7.819 million barrels in the week ended December 9, versus a 6.426 million-barrels decline in the prior week, the American Petroleum Institute said. The EIA, on Wednesday, said stocks of crude oil in the US rose by 10.23 million in the week ended December 9, recording the first rise in five weeks.
Euro zone
European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.02%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.09% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 0.4%. The German DAX dropped 0.26%, French CAC 40 fell 0.21% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index slipped 0.26%.
Industrial production in the Eurozone dropped 2.0% from a month ago in September, following a revised 0.8% increase in September. Spain's consumer price inflation declined to 6.8% year-over-year in November, compared to July's 38-year high level of 10.8%. The annual inflation rate in the UK fell to 10.7% in November from 11.1% a month ago.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed mostly higher on Wednesday, with the Japan’s Nikkei gaining 0.72% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 0.39%. China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.01%.
The annual wholesale price inflation rate in India eased to 5.85% in November from 8.39% in the previous month. Industrial production in Japan dropped by 3.2% month-over-month in October following a final 1.7% decline a month ago. Japan's core machinery orders rose 5.4% month-over-month in October
Economics
- US import prices fell 0.6% from a month ago in November versus a revised 0.4% drop in the prior month. Export prices declined by 0.3% from a month earlier.
- The Fed raised its key overnight interest rate by 50 bps.
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COVID-19 Update
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 101,419,850 cases with around 1,110,560 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,676,360 cases and 530,650 deaths, while France reported over 38,612,750 COVID-19 cases with 169,000 deaths. In total, there were at least 655,097,450 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,662,410 deaths.