Stock market today: Dow closes lower as Fed minutes keep rate-hike worries alive

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com -- The Dow ended lower Wednesday after flirting with gains and losses as the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s February meeting added to expectations that further rate hikes are in the pipeline to squeeze inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.26.%, or 84 points, the S&P 500 was down 0.12%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.13%.

Fed members continued to "anticipate ongoing increases,” the minutes showed Wednesday, with a restrictive policy stance likely needing to be maintained to ensure that inflation was on a substantially downward trend.

The willingness among Fed members to persist with rate hikes has likely strengthened since the meeting following the recent wave of strong economic data.

“The Minutes to the Jan 31-Feb 1 FOMC Meeting read quite hawkish when one considers that the economic data released over the last 3 weeks solidify the potential for more rate hikes,” Jefferies said in a note.

Treasury yields moved off session lows following the release of the minutes, with the 10-year Treasury yield closing near its highs of the day.

Energy was the biggest drag on the market, driven by falling oil prices amid pressure from a stronger dollar and concerns that tighter monetary policy could dent energy demand.

The earnings front, meanwhile, offered a mixed picture, with retailers continuing to dominate investor focus.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) reported in-line fourth-quarter earnings, and revenue that topped expectations, but guidance fell short of Wall Street estimates, sending its shares almost 2% lower.

But Goldman Sachs said it was encouraged by the “solid comp” for the business, which points to ongoing market share gains in “critical categories against a highly promotional holiday backdrop,”

Elsewhere, Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) reported second-quarter results topped Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines as the software company continues to make progress on its transformation from a product to a cloud services business.

“[T]he company is becoming the Aaron Judge of cyber security as larger more strategic deals are getting inked despite the 'best days are in the rearview mirror' Street naysayer crowd,” Wedbush said as it lifted its price target on the stock to $210 from $200.

Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN), however, closed over 1% lower despite the cryptocurrency exchange reporting a smaller loss than expected as cost cuts helped ease the blow from falling trading volumes.

In other news, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) cut its quarterly dividend by more than 65% to shore up its balance sheet, sending its price down more than 2%.