US close: Stocks lower following FOMC minutes

Wall Street stocks closed lower on Wednesday as investors digested minutes from the FOMC's latest policy meeting and earnings from chipmaker Nvidia.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.51% at 39,671.04, while the S&P 500 had lost 0.27% to 5,307.01 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.18% weaker at 16,801.54.

The Dow closed 201.95 points lower on Wednesday after recording some solid gains in the previous session.

Wednesday's primary focus was quarterly earnings from Nvidia after the close of trading, with the tech giant reporting a 262% jump in sales to $26.61bn and earnings per share of $5.95 each, pointing to a continuing AI boom. It also announced a ten-to-one stock split.

Elsewhere in the corporate space, retailer Target missed expectations with its latest set of earnings, while Urban Outfitters beat on both the top and bottom line with its quarterly numbers and homebuilder Toll Brothers surpassed analysts' estimates with its fiscal performance and raised full-year delivery guidance.

On the macro front, mortgage applications jumped 1.9% week-on-week in the seven days ended 17 May, adding to the 0.5% increase in the prior week and marking the third weekly growth in mortgage demand, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. The increase comes alongside a drop in average mortgage rates that saw financing costs hit a seven-week low. Applications to refinance a mortgage, jumped by 7%, offsetting a 1% drop in mortgage applications to purchase a home.

On another note, existing home sales declined 1.9% month-on-month in April to a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 4.14m, the lowest reading in three months and short of expectations for a print of 4.21m. "Home sales changed little overall, but the upper-end market is experiencing a sizable gain due to more supply coming onto the market," said National Association of Realtors' chief economist Lawrence Yun.

Finally, minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's latest two-day policy meeting indicated that the central bank had grown more concerned about inflation, with members stating they weren't confident in moving forward with interest rate reductions just yet.

"Participants observed that while inflation had eased over the past year, in recent months there had been a lack of further progress toward the Committee's 2% objective," the minutes said. "The recent monthly data had showed significant increases in components of both goods and services price inflation."

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $153.41 1.49%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $47.43 1.04%
Boeing Co. (BA) $186.28 0.81%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $39.80 0.43%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $430.52 0.34%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $131.10 0.26%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $65.25 0.15%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $63.00 0.14%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $216.50 0.13%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $173.69 0.13%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $57.58 -2.22%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $309.34 -1.75%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $462.38 -1.71%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $330.59 -1.65%
3M Co. (MMM) $101.47 -1.60%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $157.57 -1.50%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $16.47 -1.26%
American Express Co. (AXP) $239.94 -1.23%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $31.42 -1.01%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $355.83 -0.87%

S&P 500 - Risers

Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $240.16 10.86%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $135.14 4.88%
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $99.49 3.87%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $80.72 3.86%
Lincoln National Corp. (LNC) $31.80 3.85%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $29.60 3.64%
TJX Companies Inc. (TJX) $101.12 3.50%
Dxc Technology Company (DXC) $16.39 3.14%
Ametek Inc. (AME) $174.30 2.96%
Mosaic Company (MOS) $31.75 2.88%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Target Corp. (TGT) $143.27 -8.03%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $51.23 -5.69%
Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) $75.27 -4.60%
National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) $18.24 -4.55%
FMC Technologies Inc. (FTI) $25.38 -4.51%
Gap Inc. (GPS) $20.60 -4.37%
Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $155.63 -4.20%
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH) $16.26 -3.96%
Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) $46.48 -3.75%
Newmont Corporation (NEM) $42.33 -3.75%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $240.16 10.86%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $135.14 4.88%
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $99.49 3.87%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $80.72 3.86%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $34.01 2.84%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $108.33 2.59%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $202.54 1.77%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $58.20 1.39%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $36.38 1.28%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $447.53 1.25%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $16.81 -3.94%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $16.40 -3.59%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $0.68 -3.57%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $180.11 -3.48%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $60.36 -3.39%
Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $2.80 -3.11%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $62.19 -2.98%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $102.41 -2.60%
Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $54.40 -2.55%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $1,735.13 -2.08%