Wall St. falls as investors watch united hawkish Fed

NEW YORK — Wall Street’s major indexes edged lower after a choppy session on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve showed broad agreement on the need to raise borrowing costs further, cementing investor concerns that had helped cause a major sell-off the week before.

The S&P 500 zigzagged furiously between positive and negative territory after the 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT) release of the Fed’s September meeting minutes.

In defiance of sharp criticism from US President Donald Trump, policy makers showed agreement on the September hike and general anticipation that further gradual increases would be consistent with the economic expansion, labor market strength, and firm inflation that most forecast.

“In the past several years there’s been a strong dovish component. Now even the doves are starting to roll over,” said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network, in Waltham, Mass. “The sense of the meeting was more hawkish than investors might have thought.”

The S&P has only partially recovered ground lost last week, when it marked its biggest decline since March as investors worried about rate hikes.

The prospect of a more hawkish Fed was exacerbating equity investor fears of uncertainties, ranging from the US-China trade war and weakness in the housing market to the outlook for earnings, said Mr. McMillan.

“The market doesn’t really know what to think at this point. That’s why we’re seeing these swings,” he said. “With interest rates higher there’s a lot less cushion to smooth away those uncertainties.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 91.74 points or 0.36% to 25,706.68; the S&P 500 lost 0.71 point or 0.03% to 2,809.21; and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.79 points or 0.04% to 7,642.70.

Even before the minutes, trading was already choppy, and the S&P 500 struggled to build on the previous day’s rally after disappointing housing data dragged down stocks such as Home Depot, Inc. and homebuilders.

Of the S&P’s 11 major sectors, four ended with gains. Financials was the biggest gainer, closing 0.9% higher. Materials was the biggest loser, with an 0.8% drop.

Home Depot shares fell 4.3% while the PHLX Housing index lost 1.87%.

Among the brighter spots was Netflix, which rose 5.3%, after reporting blowout subscriber addition numbers.

United Airlines, Inc. shares climbed 5.95% after a solid thirdquarter profit and again raising its 2018 outlook. That also lifted other airline stocks.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1.70 to 1; on Nasdaq, a 1.39-to-1 ratio favored decliners. —