Ammon News - U.S. stocks tumbled on the last trading day in January after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady while dashing hopes for interest rate cut as soon as March.

The three major U.S. stock indexes were already weighed down by weakness in tech and tech-adjacent megacap stocks the day after disappointing Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab results.

All three extended losses after the Fed's announcement and Chair Jerome Powell's subsequent press conference. The S&P 500 closed with its steepest daily loss since Sept. 21.

All three indexes still notched gains for the month.

As expected, the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) left its key policy rate unchanged at 5.25%-5.50% against a backdrop of gradually cooling inflation and a resilient economy.

In its statement, the FOMC said it "does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%," disappointing investors who had hoped for a quick dovish pivot.

Reuters