US close: Stocks close lower as traders continued to weigh Powell comments

(Sharecast News) - Major indices closed lower on Thursday after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell hinted that the central bank may not be looking to cut interest rates again at its December meeting.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.23% at 47,522.12, while the S&P 500 shed 0.99% 6,822.34 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.57% lower at 23,581.14.

The Dow closed 109.88 on Thursday, extending losses recorded in the previous session.

The Federal Reserve approved a second consecutive interest rate cut overnight, lowering its benchmark borrowing rate by 25 basis points to a range of 3.75%-4.00%, though chair Jerome Powell unsettled markets by signalling uncertainty over a further move in December.

The decision was backed by a 10-2 vote from the Federal Open Market Committee, with Governor Stephen Miran favouring a larger half-point cut and Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid preferring no change. The Fed also said it would end its quantitative tightening programme on 1 December.

While policymakers had previously indicated the potential for three cuts in 2025, Wednesday's statement offered no guidance on the December meeting. Powell cautioned against assuming another reduction was guaranteed, despite market expectations for further easing amid signs of labour market softness and slowing growth.

In the corporate space, media giant Comcast topped Wall Street expectations with its third-quarter earnings and revenue on Thursday, despite continued subscriber losses in its core broadband and pay TV segments, while Mastercard also Mastercard beat Q3 expectations as sustained consumer spending boosted payment volumes, and Eli Lilly raised its full-year profit and revenue guidance as strong international demand for weight-loss drugs saw Q3 earnings come in ahead of expectations.

After the close, Apple reported Q4 earnings that beat analyst expectations, and provided some strong guidance for its December quarter, while Amazon said its cloud business had seen its strongest quarterly growth in almost three years on the back of increased demand for computing power.

Traders also eyed a high-stakes meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, with Trump agreeing to cut fentanyl tariffs on Chinese imports to 47% from 57%. As part of the deal, Beijing will work to stop fentanyl making its way into the US and buy American-grown soybeans and other agricultural goods. China also delayed the latest curb on rare earth exports by twelve months.

However, concerns regarding the export of Nvidia chips and the TikTok divestiture remained unresolved and, while China's Ministry of Commerce said that it was willing to work with the US to "resolve issues related to TikTok", it also stopped short of providing any further details on the matter.

No major data points were released on Thursday, with the Federal Government shutdown stretching into its 30th day, second only to the 2018-19 shutdown, which lasted a total of 35 days.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com