U.S. stocks closed mixed Wednesday as Wall Street digested the U.S. Federal Reserve's statement released in the afternoon.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 1.58 points, or 0. 01 percent, to 18,472.17. The S&P 500 fell 2.60 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,166.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 29.76 points, or 0.58 percent, to 5,139.81.
After the conclusion of its two-day meeting, the U.S. central bank on Wednesday kept federal funds rate unchanged, reiterating that it continues to closely monitor inflation indicators and global economic and financial developments.
According to the statement, in determining the timing and size of future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Fed will assess realized and expected economic conditions relative to its objectives of maximum employment and 2 percent inflation.
In corporate news, after Tuesday's closing bell, Apple Inc. reported its financial results for the third quarter ended June 25 in the fiscal year 2016. The tech giant posted quarterly revenue of 42.4 billion U.S. dollars and quarterly net income of 7.8 billion dollars, or 1.42 dollars per diluted share. Its shares soared 6.58 percent to 103. 03 dollars apiece Wednesday. Shares of Boeing added 0.82 percent to 135.96 dollars apiece Wednesday after the aerospace firm reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.
On the economic front, values of new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in June decreased 9.3 billion dollars or 4.0 percent to 219.8 billion dollars, which is worse than expected, the Commerce Department announced Wednesday. "While certainly not a strong report, the extreme headline weakness was driven primarily by a huge drop in nondefense aircraft and defense orders, two highly volatile indicators not very representative of the underlying economy," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial.
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