NEW YORK, June 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded lower in the morning session Thursday as investors continued to digest the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates by a quarter point.
By midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 28.55 points, or 0.13 percent, to 21,346.01. The S&P 500 lost 11.70 points, or 0.48 percent, to 2,426.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 63.34 points, or 1.02 percent, to 6,131.55.
The U.S. central bank on Wednesday raised the benchmark interest rates for the fourth time since December 2015, and unveiled plans to start trimming its balance sheet.
"In view of realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation, the (Federal Open Market) Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1 to 1.25 percent," said the Fed in a statement after concluding its two-day monetary policy meeting.
Meanwhile, in view of stable economic conditions, the Fed plans to reduce its 4.5-trillion U.S. dollar balance sheet later this year and unveils a detailed plan to trim its bond holdings.
"The Fed sounded hawkish, willing to look past the weakness in inflation and reiterating the need to normalize policy," said a BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research report after the release.
On the economic front, in the week ending June 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 237,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 245,000, said the U.S. Labor Department Thursday.
In a separate report, the department announced that U.S. import prices declined 0.3 percent in May after increasing 0.2 percent in April, while the price index for U.S. exports declined 0.7 percent in May following a 0.2-percent advance in April.
On Wednesday U.S. stocks closed mixed, with the Dow refreshing its closing record, as Wall Street assessed the Fed's rate hike decision. Enditem
