NEW YORK, March 22 (Xinhua) — U.S. stocks closed mixed Wednesday, a day after equities posted their worst day of the year, as investors worried about U.S. President Trump’s ability to implement his economic policies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down 6.71 points, or 0.03 percent, to 20,661.30. The S&P 500 rose 4.43 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2,348.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 27.82 points, or 0.48 percent, to 5,821.64.
Analysts said there appear to be growing concerns that President Trump’s tax reform, infrastructure spending and deregulation may take longer to pass than initially thought.
Besides, fears that a prolonged battle in Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare led all three indices to their biggest one-day losses on Tuesday since the November election.
“Another factor weighing on the market could well be the Fed,” said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note Wednesday.
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said she favors starting to shrink the balance sheet before the end of this year.
This could be a reason the FOMC has stepped up the tightening pace, because they do not want to start reducing the balance sheet until rate increases are well under way, Low added.
On the economic front, U.S. existing-home sales slid in February, said the National Association of Realtors Wednesday. Total existing-home sales retreated 3.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.48 million in February from 5.69 million in January.
In corporate news, shares of Nike Inc. plunged 7.05 percent to 53.92 U.S. dollars apiece after the sportswear maker delivered mixed quarterly results and gave a downbeat outlook for sales growth.
