WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After recovering from an initial move to the downside, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Thursday. The major averages swung back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly lower.
The Nasdaq fell 59.16 points or 0.3 percent to 17,691.63 and the S&P 500 dipped 12.40 points or 0.2 percent to 5,662.89, while the narrower Dow posted an even more modest loss, edging down 11.31 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 41,953.32.
The modestly lower close on Wall Street came amid lingering concerns about the economic outlook following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.
The Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged, but forecasts suggest officials still expect to resume cutting rates later this year.
However, the Fed officials also lowered their projections for GDP growth in 2025 to 1.7 percent from 2.1 percent and raised their forecasts for consumer price growth this year to 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said during his post-meeting press conference that a 'good part' of the higher inflation forecast is due to tariffs.
Selling pressure was relatively subdued, however, as a report from the National Association of Realtors unexpectedly showing a significant rebound by existing home sales helped ease concerns about the strength of the economy.
NAR said existing home sales surged by 4.2 percent to an annual rate of 4.26 million in February after tumbling by 4.7 percent to a revised rate of 4.09 million in January.
The sharp increase surprised economists, who had expected existing home sales to slump by another 3.2 percent to an annual rate of 3.95 million from the 4.08 million originally reported for the previous month.
Sector News
Airline stocks moved significantly lower over the course of the session, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 1.7 percent.
Considerable weakness also emerged among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index.
Networking and computer hardware stocks also showed notable moves to the downside, while most of the other major sectors showed more modest moves on the day.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Thursday, with the Japanese markets closed for a holiday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index plunged by 2.2 percent, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index jumped by 1.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.0 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries gave back ground after an early rally but closed modestly higher. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 2.3 basis points to 4.233 percent after falling as low as 4.174 percent.
Looking Ahead
Overall trading activity on Friday may be somewhat subdued amid a lack of major U.S. economic data on the day.
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