U.S. stocks whipsawed Wednesday and short-term Treasury yields climbed after the Federal Reserve delivered a 25 basis point interest-rate hike and asserted that more would likely follow. The S&P 500 SPX was off 12 points, or 0.3%, at 4,086 shortly after 2 p.m., according to FactSet data. The Nasdaq Composite COMP climbed 7 points, or 0.1%, at 11,597. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA fell 245 points, or 0.7%, to 33,841. The mixed reaction in stocks followed as investors had anticipated that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell would try to dispel expectations for a rate cut later this year. In its statement released following the close of its February meeting, the Fed kept a key line signaling that its plans for tightening monetary policy would continue. “The Committee anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time,” the Fed said in the statement. Meanwhile, the yield on the 2-year Treasury yield rose 1.3 basis points at 4.219%, while the yield on the 10-year note was off 5 basis points at 3.476%. Powell will answer questions from reporters starting at 2:30 p.m.
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