Dow Drops 2% As Fed's Powell Warns Of 'highly Uncertain' US Outlook

New York, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Jan, 2021 ) :Wall Street stocks slid to session lows Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell cautioned the US economic outlook was "highly uncertain" in light of the surging Covid-19 outbreak.

Near 2025 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.9 percent at 30,338.08.

The broad-based S&P 500 slumped 2.6 percent to 3,749.77, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also shed 2.7 percent to 13,254.98.

Stocks have been in the red all day, but losses deepened during Powell's news conference.

The Fed, as expected, maintained ultra-low interest rates in light of the brittle economic recovery from the period of the most sweeping US restrictions to combat Covid-19.

"The pace of the recovery in economic activity and employment has moderated in recent months, with weakness concentrated in the sectors most adversely affected by the pandemic," the Fed's statement said.

Joe Manimbo, a foreign exchange analyst at Western Union business Solutions, attributed the swoon in stocks to the Fed's "more cautious assessment of the economy."Earlier Wednesday, markets digested mixed earnings reports from large companies, as well as outsized gains by GameStop and AMC Entertainment that some analysts said have unnerved investors worried about excessive equity valuations.