Few ripples washed through financial markets after the Federal Reserve decided to keep its main interest rate steady, just like virtually all of Wall Street was expecting.
The U.S. stock and bond markets both remained at virtual standstills on Wednesday, while the U.S. dollar stabilized following its sharp slide from recent weeks. Some of the biggest action remained in the gold market, where the metal’s price soared to another record.
The S&P 500 inched down by less than 0.1% from its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was also nearly unchanged, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%.
On Wednesday:
The S&P 500 fell 0.57 points, or less than 0.1%, to 6,978.03.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 12.19 points, or less than 0.1%, to 49,015.60.
The Nasdaq composite rose 40.35 points, or 0.2%, to 23,857.45.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 13.15 points, or 0.5%, to 2,653.55.
For the week:
The S&P 500 is up 62.42 points, or 0.9%.
The Dow is down 83.11 points, or 0.2%.
The Nasdaq is up 356.20 points, or 1.5%.
The Russell 2000 is down 15.62 points, or 0.6%.
For the year:
The S&P 500 is up 132.53 points, or 1.9%.
The Dow is up 952.31 points, or 2%.
The Nasdaq is up 615.46 points, or 2.6%.
The Russell 2000 is up 171.64 points, or 6.9%.