NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks turned lower on Wednesday and the dollar's losses deepened against a basket of currencies as the Federal Reserve held policy rates unchanged with eyes on recent market turmoil in global markets.
Oil futures clung to earlier gains, while U.S. Treasury debt prices pared earlier losses. Spot gold prices turned positive.
"The committee is closely monitoring global economic and financial developments and is assessing their implications for the labour market and inflation," the Fed's policy-setting committee said in a statement that diminished the chances of a rate hike at its next meeting in March.
Shortly after the release of the Fed policy statement, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 61.34 points, or 0.38 percent, to 16,105.89, the S&P 500 lost 0.62 points, or 0.03 percent, to 1,903.01 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 41.83 points, or 0.92 percent, to 4,525.85. [.N]
The dollar index , which tracks the greenback versus a basket of six currencies, fell 0.43 points or 0.43 percent, to 98.93. [FRX/]
Brent crude was last up 60 cents, or 1.89 percent, at $32.40 a barrel. U.S. crude was 24 cents, or 0.76 percent, higher at $31.69 per barrel. [O/R]
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Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes were down 6/32 in price with a yield of 2.017 percent, up 2 basis points from late on Tuesday. [US/]
Spot gold prices rose $1.33 or 0.12 percent, to $1,121.50 an ounce. [GOL/]
(Additional reporting by Marc Jones, Amanda Cooper in London; Editing by Catherine Evans and Nick Zieminski)