Stock Market Close: Investors Negative On Fed Action, FedEx Has Worst Day In Decade

Investors reacted negatively to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut, sending equities and commodities lower. FedEx shares took their worst dive in a decade.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which dove more than 150 points immediately after the announcement, rebounded in the last 15 minutes of the session, gaining 36.35 points or 0.13%. The S&P 500 gained 0.03% and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.11%.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange was 2.6 billion shares with 1,349 issues advancing and 1,593 issues declining.

Leading the most actives were McDermott International (MDR), Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Ambev S.A. ADR (ABEV).

The Federal Open Markets Committee announced a 25-basis-point cut in the federal funds rate to 1.75% to 2% to ease the economic impact of President Trump’s trade war with China and a softening of the global economy. Investors were disappointed policymakers were split over whether to cut rates further before the end of the year.

Trump has been trying to pressure the Fed to take more drastic action to goose the economy, which is now expected to grow at a 2.2% rate for the year. Trump pushed for rates to be cut to zero or less, but Fed Chairman Jerome Powell resisted, saying the Fed would continue to act based on data rather than political pressure.

The Fed also intervened in money markets, injecting $125 billion in the last two days to ease overnight borrowing rates that had spiked as high as 10%.

FedEx (FDX) shares put in their worst performance in a decade, falling 13% to $151 a share after the delivery giant cut its earnings guidance for the year, citing increased trade tensions.

Worries over tensions with Iran also cast a pall over the market as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there was no doubt Tehran was responsible for the attack that destroyed half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production capacity. The Saudis said Wednesday they have proof of Iran’s culpability despite denials from Iranian officials.

The Aramco facility Abqaiq is expected to be back at full production capacity by the end of the month. Trump tweeted he had ordered sanctions on Iran increased in response to the attack.

On global markets, Asian markets were mixed. The Hong Kong Heng Seng closed off 0.13%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 0.18% and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.25%. The Australia S&P/ASX fell 0.2%.

London’s FTSE 100 closed flat, the German Dax was up 0.17% and the French CAC 40 added 0.09%. The British pound was off 0.12% against the dollar while the euro was down 0.37% and the U.S. dollar index was 0.27% higher.

Commodities were lower. Crude oil futures were off 2.07% and Brent crude lost 0.13%. Gold futures dipped 0.82% and silver gave up 1.98%.

Yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell 0.015% to 1.788% while yield on the 30-year note dipped 0.022% to 2.248%.