Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Fed Expects No Interest Rate Hikes In 2019; Dow Down Over 100 Points

Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.46 percent to 25,769.02 while the NASDAQ climbed 0.04 percent to 7,727.22. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.24 percent to 2,825.65.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Wednesday afternoon, the energy shares climbed 1.7 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. NOG up 10 percent, and Crescent Point Energy Corp. CPG up 9 percent.

In trading on Wednesday, financial shares fell 1.1 percent.

Top Headline

In a move that was widely expected, the Federal Reserve opted not to raise interest rates on Wednesday and said there will likely be no additional rate hikes in 2019.

There was a bit of softening in some of the Fed’s economic forecasts for 2019. The Fed lowered its economic growth forecast from 2.3 percent to 2.1 percent. It also said 2019 inflation rates will average 1.8 percent, down from 1.9 percent and below its 2 percent target. Finally, the new estimated unemployment rate is 3.7 percent, up from 3.5 percent in December.

Equities Trading UP

Motif Bio plc MTFB shares got a boost, shooting up 53 percent to $2.4601 after the FDA granted the company's request for a Type A meeting to discuss the complete response letter regarding iclaprim.

Shares of Nevro Corp. NVRO shot up 34 percent to $60.15 after the company announced it reached a management agreement with hedge fund Broadfin Capital. Nevro named D. Keith Grossman as President and CEO. Bank of America upgraded Nevro from Neutral to Buy, while BMO Capital upgraded the stock from Market Perform to Outperform.

Electrameccanica Vehicles Corp. SOLO shares were also up, gaining 28 percent to $4.39 after Benchmark initiated coverage on the stock with a Buy rating.

Equities Trading DOWN

Intellipharmaceutics International Inc. IPCI shares dropped 12 percent to $0.2384 after Nasdaq notified the company that it will delist its shares. The company's shares will begin trading on the OTC exchange.

Shares of Phunware Inc. PHUN were down 20 percent to $33.00. Phunware posted FY18 loss of $0.38 per share on sales of $30.9 million.

Bio-Path Holdings, Inc. BPTH was down, falling around 11 percent to $22.33 following Q4 results.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.9 percent to $60.12 while gold traded up 0.6 percent to $1,314.20.

Silver traded up 0.9 percent Wednesday to $15.505, while copper rose 0.4 percent to $2.936.

Eurozone

European shares closed lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.9 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.91 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.47 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 1.57 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.8 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.45 percent.

Economics

U.S. crude supplies dropped 9.59 million barrels for the week ended March 15, the Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts projected a gain of 309,000 barrels. Supplies of gasoline fell 4.59 million barrels, while distillates dropped 4.13 million barrels last week.

The Federal Reserve opted not to raise interest rates on Wednesday and said there will likely be no additional rate hikes in 2019.