Wall Street lower after Fed leaves rates unchanged

The Fed said that the US economy had expanded at a moderate rate and the near-term risks to its outlook had diminished

Wall Street fell on Thursday morning on mixed earnings and weak economic data, a day after the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged.

The Fed said on Wednesday that the US economy had expanded at a moderate rate and the near-term risks to its outlook had diminished, leaving the door open for a possible increase in the coming months.

The S&P 500 was dragged down by Ford, whose shares dropped 8.2% after disappointing second-quarter profit.

A report by the U.S. Labor Department showed that unemployment numbers rose more than expected to 266,000 for the week ended July 22. Analysts had expected a rise to 260,000.

 

However, Facebook opened at an all-time high of $128.31 after the company reported quarterly results that handily beat analysts' estimates on Wednesday.

At 9:42 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 67.11 points, or 0.36%, at 18,405.06.

The S&P 500 was down 5.07 points, or 0.23%, at 2,161.51.

The Nasdaq Composite index was down 5.61 points, or 0.11%, at 5,134.20.

Eight of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were lower, led by a 0.6% fall in the materials index.

"The market has been going steadily higher and so analysts expect it to go down," said Sal Recco, chief operating officer at Gravity Partners. "It is like flipping a coin. If it's heads 10 times in a row, you would expect tails on the 11th."

NetSuite soared 18.3% to $108.35 after Oracle agreed to buy the company for about $9.3 billion. Oracle was up 1.8%.

Google parent Alphabet and online retailer Amazon.com are expected to report results after the bell.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,629 to 1,003. On the Nasdaq, 1,361 issues fell and 946 advanced.

The S&P 500 index showed 17 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 52 new highs and 12 new lows.