Stocks close lower as Fed minutes signal half-point rate hike 'appropriate' at future meetings

U.S. stocks ended the trading session in the red on Wednesday after investors digested the minutes from the Federal Reserve's March meeting, in which policymakers signaled that surging inflation and an incredibly tight labor market could warrant a half-point interest rate hike at future meetings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 144.67 points at 34,496.51 while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.97% and 2.22%, respectively. 

The minutes also reaffirmed Fed Governor Lael Brainard's remarks on Tuesday that the central bank could start to reduce the balance sheet as early as May. The 10-year Treasury yield has spiked above 2.6%, its highest level since March 2019.

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Oil has dipped below the $100 per barrel mark after the Energy Information Administration reported an unexpected rise in crude inventories by 2.4 million barrels. Analysts polled by Refinitiv were expecting a 2.05 million-barrel drop. 

Oil's move came as executives from BP America, Chevron, Devon Energy, ExxonMobil, Pioneer Natural Resources and Shell USA testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on high gas prices. The national average gas price stood at $4.16 per gallon as of Wednesday, according to AAA.

RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES

Also on Wednesday, the White House announced additional sanctions against Russia. Western governments will ban new investment in Russia following evidence that its soldiers deliberately killed civilians in Ukraine.  The U.S. Treasury said President Vladimir Putin's government will be blocked from paying debts with dollars from American financial institutions, potentially increasing the risk of a default.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned of major consequences for the global economy as a result of the Russian-Ukraine war, including severe disruptions to the global flow of food and energy.

"Russia’s actions represent an unacceptable affront to the rules-based, global order, and will have enormous economic repercussions in Ukraine and beyond," Yellen said in prepared remarks during her annual testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

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In stocks, Tilray surged as high as 9% after reporting an unexpected profit in its latest quarter despite revenue coming in below Wall Street expectations. The cannabis producer has announced an exclusive deal with supermarket chain Whole Foods to sell hemp powers produced by its Manitoba Harvest subsidiary.  

Simply Good Foods climbed more than 4% after the nutritional foods and snacks maker reported better-than-expected profit and revenue for its latest quarter and raised its sales forecast for the current year.

Meanwhile, Twitter shares slipped after Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the social media platform’s largest shareholder, updated an SEC filing disclosing his 9.2% stake to show that it is not passive. Twitter stock has rallied over the past two days on the initial news of the stake and Musk being given a board seat at the social media platform. 

Spirit Airlines fell 2% after the airline said it will consider JetBlue’s new $3.6 billion cash takeover offer. JetBlue’s proposal comes after Spirit agreed to be bought by Frontier Airlines for $2.9 billion. JetBlue fell more than 8% and Frontier fell as much as 11%.

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In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo sank 1.58%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 1.8% and China's Shanghai Composite Index was little changed. In Europe, the Stoxx 50 fell 2.3%, the CAC40 tumbled 2.2% and the DAX dipped 1.8%. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.