On Wednesday, US time, all sectors of the US stock market were sold off, and the three major stock indexes closed sharply lower, of which the Dow fell 2.05%, the S&P 500 index fell 2.57%, erasing all the gains since this year, and the NASDAQ closed down 2.61%.
The Fed chooses to hold its ground Powell worries about the economic recovery
The Fed's first monetary policy meeting of the year came to an end on Wednesday, with the Fed announcing that it would keep the federal funds rate target range unchanged at 0 to 0.25% and maintain the current size of bond purchases, in line with market expectations. In his speech, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the Fed would remain patient and would not react when inflation rose slightly. He is more worried about the economic recovery than inflation.
Following Powell's speech, U.S. stocks fell more than 600 points and the Nasdaq fell more than 330 points. The dollar index extended its gains to 0.54%. Notably, the "panic index" VIX, which measures market volatility, surged 61.6 percent on Wednesday, breaking through 37 and hitting a nearly three-month high.
The three major technology giants released financial reports Apple's quarterly revenue exceeded 100 billion US dollars
In addition, the three leading technology stocks Apple, Facebook and Tesla released performance financial reports after hours, and the revenue of all three in the fourth quarter of last year exceeded market expectations, of which Apple's revenue in the fourth quarter exceeded $100 billion for the first time in history, but Apple's stock price fell slightly after hours. Tesla's earnings per share fell short of expectations, with shares falling more than 4 percent after hours.
Germany cuts its economic growth forecasts this year: EUROPEAN CENTRAL Bank officials: or cut interest rates further
Global capital market sentiment deteriorated, with europe's three largest stock markets falling sharply, with London down 1.3 percent, Paris and Frankfurt closing down 1.16 percent and 1.81 percent, respectively. The extension of lockdown measures against COVID-19 has led the German government to lower its economic growth forecast for 2021 to 3%, a far cry from last autumn's forecast of 4.4%. Eurozone cyclical stocks were sold off, with mining, banking and auto stocks falling between 2% and 3.6%.
There is another reason for the pressure on bank stocks, with ECB Governing Council member Knort saying on Wednesday that in order to keep inflation targets from derailing, the ECB may consider further cutting interest rates that are already negative.
U.S. crude inventories plummeted to support crude oil prices
Crude oil prices rose and fell on Wednesday, with U.S. WTI light crude futures for March delivery closing higher at $52.85 a barrel and Brent crude futures for March delivery closing modestly at $55.81 a barrel. U.S. crude inventories fell by nearly 10 million barrels last week, the lowest level since March last year, amid a sharp drop in imports, a news that supported oil prices.
The international gold price fell on the 27th
Gold prices fell on Wednesday, with gold futures for February delivery closing at $1,844.9 an ounce. Uncertainty over the introduction of a fiscal bailout plan in the United States and the strengthening of the US dollar were the main reasons for the decline in gold prices.
Source: CCTV Finance