Markets fall despite Fed patience

The Federal Reserve left monetary policy unchanged on Wednesday.

While the Fed noted in its monetary policy meeting statement that economic activity has been expanding at a “solid pace”, it also said that it “can be patient in beginning to normalize the stance of monetary policy”.

Investors did not seem to take much comfort from the Fed statement though. Markets mostly fell on Wednesday. The S&P 500 fell 1.4 percent, US 10-year Treasury yields fell 10 basis points to 1.72 percent and oil plunged 3.9 percent.

In Europe, the STOXX Europe 600 managed to close up 0.1 percent. However, Greece’s 10-year bond yields rose 87 basis points to 10.35 percent, Italy’s 10-year yield increased six basis points to 1.59 percent and Portugal’s climbed 15 basis points to 2.59 percent.