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Informist, Thursday, Jul. 30, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: US markets close lower; Fed keeps interest rates unchanged

 

MUMBAI--0702 IST--Major US indices closed lower Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve decided to hold interest rates steady. The fall was led by a sell-off in chip stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed more than 2% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 both closed more than 1% lower. 

 

The US Fed decided to keep the benchmark federal funds target rate unchanged in the 3.50-3.75% range. Investors had largely expected the Fed would keep interest rates unchanged. Inflation has been above the central bank's target for more than five years and up until last month it was rising as the war in West Asia pushed up global fuel and food prices, Reuters reported. 

 

"The Fed held pat, as expected. The bigger question now though becomes, how much pressure will they have to hike in September? Inflation is running hot and with surging crude oil, the market expects the next hike to indeed be in September," Reuters quoted Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, as saying.

 

Shares of Meta Platforms fell 4% in extended trade after it raised its outlook for capital expenditure to between $130 billion and $145 billion for 2026 from $125 billion to $145 billion earlier, Reuters reported. After the bell, Microsoft rose marginally after the company's quarterly cloud revenue growth beat the Street's estimate. Ford Motors rose around 2?ter it raised its annual profit outlook Tuesday for the second time this year. Visa rose marginally after the company's earnings for the June quarter beat the Street's estimate. 

 

Following were the levels of major US indices in the region: 

 

Index	Level	Change in %
Dow Jones Industrial Average	51594.14	(-)2.2
NASDAQ Composite	24442.94	(-)1.7
S&P 500	7316.15	(-)1.5

 

(Deesha Jadhav)

 

US$1 = INR 95.64

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Pankaj Aher

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

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