Crude oil recovery, earnings lift Wall Street

The S&P 500 has declined 23.95 points, 1.3 percent. Wall Street opened lower on Wednesday as investors responded to disappointing forecasts from Dow component companies Apple (AAPL) and Boeing (BA), as well as initial slide for oil futures earlier today.

In a widely expected decision, the Fed kept interest rates unchanged and it said it was “closely monitoring” global economic and financial developments, but it maintained an otherwise upbeat view of the USA economy.

The stock is down 1.46% or $235.58 after the news, hitting $15931.65 per share.

US stocks closed higher Tuesday, helped by a bounce in oil and some earnings beats, ahead of the release of the Fed meeting statement Wednesday.

Experts said the volatility that has stalked world trading floors this year was unlikely to end any time soon, and oil prices sank over concerns of another potential rise in USA crude stockpiles. Tim Cook, CEO of the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, said the dollar is having an “extreme” effect on its sales in nearly every country.

The Fed’s policy statement countered positive sentiment from higher oil prices and gains in leading Asian and European markets, leaving Wall Street into the red.

In currencies, the dollar was down 0.1% against the yen at ¥118.2570, while the euro was up 0.1% against the dollar at $1.0838.

The Dow is down 1,257.80 points, or 7.2 percent.

Brent crude, the benchmark for worldwide oils, rose $1.30, or 4.1 percent, to $31.10 a barrel in London.

Oil prices fell 6 percent on concerns of oversupply after news that Iraq’s output reached a record last month. “The market is waking up to some real risks this year”, he said. Textron fell $5.04, or 13.4 percent, to $32.69.

Caterpillar dropped 5 percent to $57.91 after Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the stock to “sell”. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday said crude supplies climbed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/api-data-show-us-crude-supplies-jumped-114-million-barrels-sources-2016-01-26) by 11.4 million barrels last week. Hanesbrands Inc. and Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. advanced more than 3.1 percent.

In Japan, the Nikkei Stock Average fell 2.4% on Tuesday, while Hong Kong’s Hang SengHSNGY -1.05 % Index lost 2.2%.