March 19, 2014- Stocks Close Lower as Fed Announces Possible Rise in Interest Rates

With traders reacting negatively to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, stocks moved mostly lower in the latter part of the trading day on Wednesday. The selling was somewhat choppy, however, limiting the downside for the markets. The major averages bounced well off their worst levels going into the close but remained firmly in the red. The Dow slid 114.02 points or 0.7 percent to 16,222.17, the Nasdaq fell 25.71 points or 0.6 percent to 4,307.60 and the S&P 500 dropped 11.48 points or 0.6 percent to 1,860.77. The weakness on Wall Street came following the release of the Fed's policy announcement, the first under new Fed Chair Janet Yellen. As was widely expected, the central bank announced its decision to scale back its asset purchase program by another $10 billion to $55 billion.