Wall Street ends mixed as investors digest FOMC statement

 U.S. stock indexes wavered between small gains and losses on Wednesday as the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged and virtually ignored the slowdown in the economic activity in the first quarter of 2017, signaling no changes in its plan to hike rates two more times this year.

The monetary policy statement revealed that the Committee views the slowing in growth during the first quarter as likely to be transitory." The Fed is communicating its mantra of gradual rate hikes and the next time they will likely raise rates would be June," Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania, told Reuters.

• Forex today: US data and FOMC firm up the DXY closing higher by +0.32%

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 8.01 points, or 0.04%, to 20,957.9. The S&P 500 dropped 3.5 points, or 0.15%t, to 2,382.25. After rising to new record highs in the two previous sessions, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite had its worst daily performance since mid-March as it lost 22.82 points, or 0.37%, to 6,072.55. The U.S. wireless carrier Sprint's shares dropped 14.3% and weighed heavily on the index.

Headlines from the U.S. session

• U.S. House's McCarthy: “Big, significant progress” made on Obamacare repeal bill
• Comparison Between May and March FOMC Statements - Nomura
• Fed skips May, June remains a strong possibility - BBH
• Fed leaves policy unchanged, recent slowdown is "transitory" - ING
• CME Group FedWatch June hike probability jumped above 70% post-Fed
• FOMC's decisions regarding monetary policy implementation - May 3, 2017