The soft finish of the Wall Street was chiefly due to the release of mixed U.S. manufacturing activity results in the month of February and two Federal Reserve officials suggested a more aggressive rate-hiking campaign in the coming months.
At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index advanced marginal 5.14 points, or 0.02%, to 32,661.84. The S&P500 index was down 18.76 points, or 0.47%, to 3,951.39. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 76.06 points, or 0.66%, to 11,379.48.
Total 8 of 11 sectors ended lower along with the S&P500 Index. Utilities was worst performing sector, falling 1.72%, followed by real estate (down 1.49%), and consumer discretionary (down 1.28%) sectors. Energy was top performing sector, gaining 1.94% as crude oil traded higher, with U.S. benchmark WTI up at $77.73 a barrel, followed by materials (up 0.68%)
The path of the Federal Reserve's rate hikes remains in focus for investors. Two Federal Reserve officials spoke on Wednesday leaned in the move that aggressive interest rate hikes are the path forward to ease inflation.
Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said on Wednesday that he's open to the possibility of a larger interest rate increase at this month's policy meeting, whether it's 25 or 50 basis points, but hasn't made up his mind yet.
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said on Tuesday that it would be a danger and a mistake for policy makers to rely too heavily on market reactions and emphasized the importance to supplement these traditional data with observations on the ground from the real economy.
ECONOMIC NEWS: The Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing PMI inched up to 47.7 in February from 47.4 in January, a reading below 50 still indicates a contraction. The report also showed the prices index jumped to 51.3 in February from 44.5 in January, indicating raw materials prices increased after decreasing for four consecutive months.
Also, the seasonally adjusted S&P Global US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index was revised lower to 47.3 in February, up from 46.9 in January. The reading indicates a solid deterioration in the health of the goods-producing sector, despite the pace of decline softening to the slowest for three months.
Among Indian ADR, INFOSYS was up 0.45% at $18.02, Azure Power Global added 6.3% to $3.53, Wipro was up 0.2% at $4.68, WNS Holdings added 1.9% to $88.55, and Dr Reddy's labs added 1.8% to $53.20. ICICI Bank fell 0.1% to $20.66 and HDFC Bank fell 1.4% at $66.70.
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