US close: Markets slip after FOMC decision, Apple weighs on indices

Stocks slipped after the US central bank's decision to raise rates for a seventh time, dragged lower by a drop in Apple shares even as Treasury note yields fell back.

Nasdaq 100

20,394.13

12:15 15/11/24

-2.40%

-502.54

By the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrials Average and S&P 500 were both down 0.18%, trading at 24,682.31 and 2,711.93, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite had come off by 0.26% to 7,345.29.

In parallel, after an initial run higher, roughly an hour after the end of trading on Wall Street, the yield on the policy-sensitive two-year Treasury note was trading four basis points lower at 2.31% and that on the 10-year note by one point to 2.88%.

From a sector standpoint, Non-ferrous metals (3.73%) and Oil equipment and services (3.72%) topped the leaderboard, with Tobacco (-2.49%) and Airlines (-2.30%) faring worst.

As expected, the US Federal Reserve hiked the target range for the Fed funds rate by 25 basis points to between 1.50% and 1.75%, and guided towards a somewhat steeper path of rate hikes for over the next roughly three years.

Nevertheless, and as the new Fed chair Jerome Powell said in his post-meeting press conference, "[we are] trying to take a middle ground on rates".

Powell also appeared to emphasise that "we're always going to be seeking 2% inflation".

"Our view is that the FOMC wanted to sound hawkish and tried to do so in the least disruptive manner possible. The 2018 dots did not change, although they gave themselves optionality in that it would take only one voter moving from three hikes to four in order to push the median higher," said Marvin Loh at BNY Mellon.

Elsewhere, the US dollar spot index was sharply lower, alongside a 3.04% jump in WTI futures after the Department of Energy reported a surprise 2.6m barrel drop in the US oil inventories for the week ended 16 March.

Also on the economic front, sales of US existing homes rose more than expected in February, according to data from the National Association of Realtors.

Sales were up 3% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.54m from 5.38m in January, rebounding from a 3.2% drop the month before, beating expectations of a 0.5% increase.

To take note of as well, after the close of trading reports surfaced that China was readying retaliatory measures in response to the US administration's stated aim of levying $60bn-worth of tariffs on Chinese goods due to its past failings in respecting intellectual property rights, among other issues.

In the equity space, analysts at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch penned a note to clients pointing out how the S&P 500 was trading on a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 17 times - its lowest since 2016, but was still 11% above its long-term average.

As a group however, technology - the biggest outperformer last year and year-to-date - has seen its multiple increase as price momentum has outpaced earnings revisions, the investment bank says. It was now trading at an 11% premium to the wider market, its loftiest level since 2009, but remains 4% below its historical average (if you strip out the 16% premium reached during the Tech Bubble).

Energy on the other hand no longer looked "very expensive" versus history in terms of its relative forward P/E multiple, BoA-Merrill said.

Against that backdrop, Facebook found a bid following two days of heavy selling, after its founder Mark Zuckerberg issued a public apology relating to recent allegation that the mishandled data on 50m users.

General Mills was down 8.85% after it posted third-quarter earnings per share of $1.62 versus 61 cents a year ago, as the company's chief executive said he was "disappointed" with revenue.

Motorhomes manufacturer Winnebago dropped 5% after releasing its second-quarter numbers, and Salesforce fell 1.93% after confirming the acquisition of San Francisco-based software company Mulesoft in a $6.5bn deal.

Boston Scientific dipped 0.04% after agreeing to buy Minnesota-based NxThera for up to $406m.

Southwest Airlines dropped 4.79% higher after cutting its outlook for first-quarter revenue per available seat mile.

Biotech company Proteostasis Therapeutics gained 6.01% after announcing late on Tuesday that it was cancelling its proposed equity offering due to market conditions.

Dow Jones - Risers

Chevron Corp. (CVX) $117.04 2.22%
General Electric Co. (GE) $13.89 1.76%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $67.43 1.57%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $75.02 1.39%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $155.80 1.13%
3M Co. (MMM) $234.10 0.73%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $101.82 0.46%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $156.69 0.31%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $88.19 0.27%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $54.69 0.09%