Stocks struggle after Fed gives market ‘bunch of nothing’

Another slide in technology companies helped pull stocks lower on Wall Street Thursday, extending losses from the day before.

The S&P 500 lost 0.8% after having been down 1.7% earlier. The selling was widespread, with eight of the 11 sectors that make up the benchmark index ending the day lower. The sectors that include Amazon, Facebook and Apple took the heaviest losses.

The selling came a day after the Federal Reserve said it will keep interest rates at nearly zero for years to support the wheezing economy. The statement failed to encourage Wall Street and the S&P 500 recorded its first loss in four days Wednesday.

Low interest rates are usually a boon for investors, sending stocks soaring. So why the sell-off ? Analysts gave varying reasons for the market’s weakness. Among them: the gloomy outlook Fed Chair Jerome Powell gave for the economy’s prospects and built-up expectations by some that the Fed would be even more generous with its stimulus.

“The market really got a bunch of nothing from the Fed,” said Shawn Cruz, senior market strategist at TD Ameritrade. “Maybe that would be OK if we were continuing along with the recovery, but the recovery is starting to decelerate.”

Macmillan CEO forced out over ‘direction’ of company

NEW YORK — Macmillan’s longtime CEO, John Sargent, will be leaving at the end of the year, forced out by what parent company Holtzbrinck Publishing Group is calling “a disagreement regarding the direction of Macmillan.”

Macmillan spokesperson Erin Coffey told The Associated Press on Thursday that Sargent’s departure was the decision of Stefan von Holtzbrinck, CEO of the Holtzbrinck group, which declined to specify the disagreement. Sargent, who joined Macmillan in 1996, declined comment.

Macmillan employees expressed surprise and dismay over Thursday’s news, saying they had not sensed any tension between Sargent and Holtzbrinck.