At closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index was up 36.78 points, or 0.13%, to 28,032.38. The S&P 500 index fell 15.71 points, or 0.46%, to 3,385.49. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 139.86 points, or 1.25%, to 11,050.47.
The Federal Reserve policymakers ended their two-day policy meeting on Wednesday by keeping interest rates steady. The Fed also changed its forward guidance to reflect its more dovish stance on inflation, signalling that its benchmark interest rate could remain near zero until inflation is on track to "moderately exceed" the U.S. central bank's 2% target "for some time."
Delivery firm FedEx Corp jumped 6.4% after reporting a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit, helped in part by price hikes and lower fuel costs. Shares in rival United Parcel Services Inc gained 0.2%.
Spotify Technology SA slipped 3.4% after the streaming music firm criticized Apple Inc, saying that a new subscription bundle offer from the iPhone maker abuses its dominant position by favoring its own Apple Music service.
ECONOMIC NEWS: US Retail Sales Up 0.6% In August- US retail sales rose by 0.6% in August after climbing by a downwardly revised 0.9% in July, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday. Excluding sales by motor vehicles and parts retailers, retail sales climbed by 0.7% in August after leaping by a downwardly revised 1.3% in July. Ex-auto sales were expected to increase by 0.9% compared to the 1.9% spike originally reported for the previous month.
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US Business Inventories Register Modest Increase In July--US business inventories inched up by 0.1% in July after slumping by 1.1% in June, a report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed. The modest rebound in business inventories came as retail inventories jumped by 1.2% in July after tumbling by 2.7% in the previous month. On the other hand, the report showed wholesale and manufacturing inventories fell by 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively. The Commerce Department also said business sales surged up by 3.2% in July after soaring by 8.6% in June. Manufacturing and wholesale sales both spiked by 4.6% during the month, while retail sales rose by 0.5%.
US NAHB Homebuilder Confidence Spikes To Record High In September The National Association of Home Builders released a report on Wednesday showing homebuilder confidence in US jumped to a record high in September. The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index shot up to 83 in September from 78 in August. With the unexpected increase, the index rose to its highest level in the 35-year history of the series, surpassing the previous record high of 78 that was set last month and also matched in December 1998. The unexpected jump by the headline index came as the three component indexes also reached record highs in September. The measure charting traffic of prospective buyers spiked to 73 from 64, the component measuring sales expectations in the next six months surged up to 84 from 78 and the index gauging current sales conditions climbed to 88 from 84.
Among Indian ADR, INFOSYS added 1.65% to $13.56, Azure Power Global inclined 6.95% to $30.95, Wipro grew 1.51% to $4.72, and Tata Motors added 1.78% to $10.27. HDFC Bank added 1.96% to $50.46, Dr Reddys Labs rose 3.54% to $62.63, ICICI Bank was up 0.39% to $10.21, and Vedanta grew 1.26% to $7.22. WNS Holdings fell 0.4% to $67.20.
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