US stocks falls prior to Fed market decision on rate cuts

Prior to a Federal Reserve decision that was anticipated to provide insight into the likelihood of interest rate reductions in the upcoming months, Wall Street markets fell sharply early on Wednesday.

The markets are focused on whether the Fed will continue to project three interest rate reductions in 2024, even though it is largely predicted that it will keep its current interest rate level.

There might be “an outsized, negative reaction,” according to Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare, if Fed Chair Jerome Powell surprised everyone by sounding overly hawkish during his news conference or provided unfavorable direction on rate cuts.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.1 percent to 16,147.06, while the broad-based S&P 500 also saw a decrease to 5,175.11.

Chipotle Mexican Grill saw a 6.3 percent increase in stock value among individual companies following the announcement of a stock split that will award investors 50 shares for each current holding. The chain referred to this as “one of the biggest stock splits in New York Stock Exchange history.”