Stock Market Today: Dow Falls as Powell Sinks Fed Pivot Hopes

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com -- The Dow fell sharply Wednesday as Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell cooled bets on a Fed pause after the central bank lifted rates for a fourth time in a row.  

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.6% or 505 points, the Nasdaq was down 3.4%, and the S&P 500 fell 2.5%.

The Fed raised its benchmark rate by 0.75%, and suggested that future hikes will face a higher threshold, but Fed chairman Jerome Powell pushed back against the idea of a Fed pause.

“[I]t is very premature to be thinking about pausing,” Powell said in a press conference on Wednesday. The chief also hinted that the Fed isn't as close to the end of its tightening cycle as many had expected, saying that the "ultimate level of interest rates will be higher than previously expected [in September]."

The somewhat hawkish remarks from Powell cooled the earlier optimism following the release of the monetary policy, which has “changed significantly,” from the prior statement, Stifel said in a note, adding that it was a “clear signal that wave of 75bp hikes is over.”

Treasury yields turned positive, putting pressure on rate-sensitive sectors including tech.

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) fell more than 3%.

Semiconductor stocks were also pushed lower as Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) gave up gains following quarterly results and guidance that missed analysts’ expectations.

Airbnb Inc (NASDAQ:ABNB), meanwhile, fell more than 13% as fourth-quarter guidance that fell just short of estimates overshadowed quarterly results that beat on the bottom line. 

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS), meanwhile, raised its full-year guidance after reporting better-than-expected revenue and profit in the third quarter of the year. It rose more than 2%.

Energy fell more than 3%, meanwhile, even as oil prices climbed following an unexpected draw in U.S. weekly crude stockpiles. 

Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO), Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX), and the Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN) were among the biggest decliners with the latter down more than 12%.