Ambivalent End to Fed Day >>> DOW looses foothold

Wall Street ended with a mixed picture on Wednesday as the Nasdaq Composite climbed more than 1% on Oracle's quarterly report and a surprise jump in durable goods orders. However, the Dow's triple-digit rally disappeared as the Federal Reserve's policy statement failed to excite the markets.
After starting the day strong, the stock market sold off sharply midday. The major averages climbed higher toward the end of the session, but the Dow still ended modestly lower and the S&P 500 only managed a slight gain.

The Nasdaq was a leader for most of the day following Oracle's better-than-expected fourth quarter results and upside first quarter earnings per share guidance after the close last night. Other large-cap tech stocks also fared well

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 23.05 points, or 0.28%, to 8299.86, the Standard & Poor's 500 added 5.84 points, or 0.65%, to 900.94 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 27.42 points, or 1.55%, to 1792.34. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 jumped 1.89 points, or 0.29%, to 664.54.

While the bulk of the selling came in the hour after the Fed's decision to keep rates steady, the central bank’s comments weren’t exactly shocking.

“We basically knew what the Fed’s policy was going to be. It gave the rally no fuel to move higher. They told us what we already knew,” said Peter Kenny, managing director of Knight Capital Markets.

Regardless, the selloff from the highs sent the Dow to its fourth-straight loss and somewhat overshadowed an unexpected increase in orders for big-ticket items and Oracle's (ORCL: 21.26, 1.39, 7%) better-than-expected quarterly report.


Wednesday's disappointing finish underscores how rally fatigue continues to take hold on Wall Street. The Dow has lost nearly 300 points over the past week as the bears continue to say stocks have risen too quickly and too far away from their March lows.

“We had a complete reversal. It’s clearly not a very encouraging sign,” NYSE trader Ted Weisberg of Seaport Securities told FOX Business. “The negative bias that we had been on clearly is back on track again. It looks like we’re going to be in trouble in the near term.”

Half of the 30 components of the Dow ended in the green.

Meanwhile, the stock markets had a muted reaction to another successful Treasury auction as Tuesday's $37 billion auction of five-year notes went smoothly. The first two auctions of this week's record $104 billion of note sales have gone off without a hitch, potentially easing some fears of higher interest rates.

Commodities took a back seat as crude closed in the red for the third day of the last four sessions following a mixed oil-inventory report. Crude settled at $68.67 a barrel, down 57 cents, or 0.82%.