FOMC announcement keeps market on toes

SHEUNG WAN, Hong Kong - March 21, 2021 - PRLog -- The lull served as a stopper from last week's stock market rally which was caused by the ongoing COVID-19 vaccine roll out and the positive effect of the fiscal stimulus package amounting to $1.9 trillion.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) ended their 7-session-days winning streak to end in the red, slipping down by 0.4% or 127.51 points, ending at 32,825.95. Dow futures, on the other hand, remains steady amidst erratic market. The DJI index was heavily affected by the fall of some of its heavyweights like Honeywell International Inc. (HON), Chevron Corporation (CVX), and American Express Company (AXP) which at least marked down by 2%. The Boeing Company (BA) ended losing 3.9% which heavily impacted the blue-chip index as well.

S&P 500 dropped by 0.2%, or 6.23 points, closing at 3,962.71. This also marked their 5-session-days win record with higher end points. Among the 11 sectors under S&P 500, 7 went under with the energy sector losing out 2.8%.

NASDAQ futures also slid down by 1% in response to the pressure coming from the rise of bond yields. On the other hand, NASDAQ index still ended positive, adding 0.1% or 11.86, closing at 13,471.57. They manage to squeeze out gains from the rally of the big tech players such as Facebook (FB). Along with Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) gains of at least 1.3%, FB manage to jump up by 2% and helped NASDAQ end on the green lines.

On the news, retail sales are reported by the U.S. Census Bureau to have dropped 3% in February, which is far too low from their estimated 0.7% drop. The report indicated bad weather and lapse in government aid as main focus that caused the decline. A steep drop in sales was observed in most department stores, home centers, internet retailers, bars and restaurants. The only exemption was gasoline, which rose by 3.6%, and groceries, which got a 0.1% increase.

As for Crypto Currency, Bitcoin and most of the alt coins circulating in the Crypto market has been erratic. Bitcoin reach another all-time high about $61,000 but dropped to $58,000 after investors took profit.

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