(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stocks finished lower on Wednesday after minutes from the last FOMC meeting showed that officials expects a deeper recession in 2009, a slower recovery next year, a greater rise in unemployment, and a possible need to expand the quantitative easing program.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 52.81 points or 0.62% to finish at 8,422.04. The S&P 500 shed 4.66 points or 0.51% to end at 903.47. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 6.70 points or 0.39% to 1,727.84.
The Fed now expects the gross domestic product to shrink between 1.3% and 2% in 2009. It had earlier expected only a 0.5% to 1.3% decline. The central bank now expects the unemployment rate to increase to between 9.2% and 9.6% this year. In January it had forecast that the jobless rate would be in a range of 8.5% to 8.8%. Few fed officials also suggested that they were open to increasing its purchases of Treasury notes and mortgage securities in order to boost lending.
Shares of financials finished lower. Citigroup (NYSE:
C) declined 8 cents or 2.12% to $3.69. J.P Morgan (NYSE:
JPM) plunged $1.26 or 3.52% to $34.55. American Express (NYSE:
AXP) lost 81 cents or 3.27% to $23.98. Shares of Wells Fargo & Co.(NYSE:
WFC) slumped 99 cents or 3.89% to $24.46.
However, Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) bucked the trend and its shares climbed 24 cents or 2.13% to $11.49. Bank of America announced on Wednesday that in less than two weeks, it has raised $13.5 billion by issuing 1.25 billion shares at an average price of $10.77 each.
Shares of General Motors (NYSE:
GM) jumped 18 cents or 14.17% to $1.45.
Among energy stocks, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:
XOM) dropped 91 cents or 1.29% to $69.61. Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) retreated 65 cents or 0.99% to $65.21.
Shares of McDonald's (NYSE:
MCD) jumped $2.38 or 4.42% to $56.25.
Early on Wednesday, Target Corp. (NYSE:
TGT) announced that its first-quarter profit slipped to $522 million, or 69 cents a share, from $602 million, or 74 cents, in the corresponding quarter last year. Revenue climbed 0.2% to $14.8 billion while comparable-store sales declined 3.7%. Shares of the retailer rose $1 or 2.38% to $42.94.
BJ's Wholesale Club Inc.
