Stocks slide after the Fed hikes rates
Stocks slid Wednesday after the Federal Reserve hiked its benchmark short-term interest rate by a quarter percentage point to a range between 1.75% and 2%. Treasury yields and the dollar rose following the Fed's announcement.
Here's the scoreboard:
Dow Jones industrial average: 25,203.75 −116.98 (-0.46%)
S&P 500: 2,779.41 −7.44 (-0.27%)
- The Federal Reserve raised its target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 1.75% to 2% and signaled two more hikes are coming this year. US Treasury yields surged following the rate announcement.
- The 2-10-year spread narrowed to its tightest point since 2007. The 2-year and 10-year were just 40 basis points apart minutes after the Federal Reserve announced its decision to hike rates. Here's why that's important and how a negative spread could signal a recession.
- Business prices rose at the quickest annual pace in more than six years. Rising gasoline prices pushed the Producer Price Index up 0.5% in May, the Labor Department said, bringing the year-over-year rate to 3.1%.
- Crude oil was up more than 1%. That's ahead of next week's OPEC supply-cut review and after President Donald Trump took aim at the cartel for oil prices he said were "too high."
- Chinese telecomms company ZTE is driving a fresh wedge between the White House and Congress. After Trump said he'd lift sanctions against ZTE as part of a $1 billion settlement, a bipartisan group of senators slipped an amendment into a national defense bill set to hit the floor this week. The White House said it will block that, the Wall Street Journal Reports.
- A new academic paper points to signs that Bitcoin's bull run was bolstered by market manipulation at Bitfinex, allegations the exchange's CEO denies. Bitcoin fell 4.15% versus the dollar following the report.
And a look at the upcoming economic calendar:
- The European Central Bank meets.
- Russian and Saudi Arabian leaders meet to talk global oil production.
- Japan delivers its interest rate decision.
- British retail sales numbers are out.