The Chicago Entrepreneur

Stocks trade at or near session lows as investors weigh Fed balance-sheet plans

Stocks fell back to or near session lows after briefly trimming losses following the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s March policy meeting Wednesday afternoon. The summary said officials generally settled on shrinking the balance sheet by $95 billion a month after a 3-month phase-in. Officials stressed they made no final decision on winding down the $9 trillion portfolio but said the plan could start in May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 291 points, or 0.8%, at 34,351, while the S&P 500 was down 1.4% at 4,463 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite sank 2.5% to 13,853.

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