By Andrea Hargraves 
Wall Street ended Wednesday's session in negative territory, despite the Federal Reserve's expected first interest rate cut in four years.
Sentiment cooled after the S&P 500 hit a record high after the North American Federal Reserve cut its key interest rates by 50 basis points (the so-called “big cut”), as some forecasts had suggested. Major indices swung as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the bank would be patient and that the 50 basis point cut would not be the pace of new cuts.
The S&P 500 fell 0.29% to 5,618.26 points. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.31% to 17,573.30 points, while the Dow Jones lost 0.25% to 41,503.10 points.
Forecasts released after the Fed’s two-day meeting showed a slim majority of 10 of 19 Fed officials favoring at least another half-point rate cut at the two remaining meetings of 2024 (in November and December). The country’s monetary policymakers also forecast an additional percentage point of cuts in 2025.
In economic forecasts, U.S. monetary policy officials revised their GDP growth forecast down slightly this year, to 2% from 2.1%, while maintaining the pace in subsequent years.
However, they are more optimistic about inflation, having revised down their forecasts and expecting the price index with personal consumption expenditures (PCE) to hold steady at 2.3% in 2024, compared to the 2.6% forecast in June. “Inflation is now very close to our target. [dos 2%]“We have gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably down to 2 percent,” Powell said.
“Markets got what they wanted — the first big Fed cut,” Chris Larkin of Morgan Stanley told Bloomberg. “Now we’ll see if they’re satisfied. The Fed has a well-deserved reputation for not rushing, so there’s potential for some disappointment if it’s seen as moving too slowly, especially if economic data continues to slow, but it delivered a good result today.”
Among the major market movers, T-Mobile stood out, losing nearly 3% after analysts deemed the company's growth ambitions for the next three years — presented on Wednesday — below expectations.
Among the “big tech companies,” Apple rose 1.80%, Alphabet rose 0.33%, and Meta rose 0.30%. In contrast, Nvidia lost 1.92%, Microsoft lost 1%, and Amazon lost 0.24%.