U.S. Stock Slide Resumes Despite Fed Language

U.S. stocks finished lower, Wednesday, sliding after a brief rebound in the wake of the Fed's statement that it would maintain its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases.

First-Time Language
The statement followed a two-day open market committee meeting. The Fed also mentioned that it was flexible and is prepared to adjust the amount of purchases in the future, depending on the health of America's economy. While Bernanke has previously mentioned that the program was flexible, this was the first time that it was included in the statement. The Fed also announced that it will leave its benchmark-interest-rate target at zero to 0.25%.

The Fed also maintained its view that the economy is expanding at a "moderate pace." After a few weeks of sluggish data, there was some concerns that the Fed would downgrade its view of the economy.

Weak Data
Prior to the open, stock futures initially turned flat after the release of data showing that private-sector employment growth slowed down in April. According to ADP, the U.S. economy added 119,000 private-sector jobs, while economists expected the addition of at least 155,000 private-payroll jobs in April.

After the opening bell, equities immediately came under modest selling pressure as domestic economic data points -- including private-sector job growth, construction spending and the March ISM index all missed their mark.

Both March construction spending and the ISM index weighed in lower than analyst expectations. Construction spending was down 1.7% for the month, after analysts had predicted an 0.6% gain. The ISM index came in at 50.7% in March vs. expectations of 51%.

Commodities ended mostly lower. Gold futures shed 1.76% of their value to close at $1,454.80 per ounce, a one week low. Oil futures declined 3.1% to finish at $90.60 a barrel.

Here's Where The Markets Stood At Day's End

• Dow Jones Industrial Average down 138.85 (-0.94%) to 14,700.95
• S&P 500 down 14.87 (-0.93%) to 1,582.70
• Nasdaq Composite Index down 29.66 (-0.89%) to 3,299.13

• Nikkei 225 Index down 0.45%.
• Hang Seng Index closed.
• Shanghai China Composite Index closed.
• FTSE 100 up 0.22%.
• DAX closed.
• CAC 40 closed.

• (+) SYNC, Expanded its relationship with Verizon to offer the company's nearly 5 million FiOS TV subscribers access to TV shows and movies from one online destination.
• (+) IQNT, Reported total Q1 revenue was $69.7 million, a decrease of 1% compared to $70.7 million of revenue in Q1 2012. Net income was $6.9 million, or $0.21 per share, up from $6.7 million a year prior. The earnings were well ahead of analysts' estimates, who expected a $0.01 per share loss and $65.65 million in revenue. The company revised its projected revenue for 2013 down to $200 million to m$210 million, but revised its expected adjusted EBITDA up to $34 million to $40 million.
• (+) MSPD, Reported a Q2 loss of $0.02 per share, narrower than the loss of $0.14 per share in the comparable quarter of 2012. Revenues of $35.4 million were higher than year ago revenues of $34.8 million.

• (-) SPW, Reported that in Q1, its diluted net income per share from continuing operations was $0.20, compared to $0.17 in the year-ago quarter. Revenues decreased 1.7% to $1.13 billion from $1.15 billion in the year-ago quarter.
• (-) TMUS, Unit formed after Deutsche Telekom AG acquired and merged into MetroPCS Communications Inc. goes public and falls in its debut.
• (-) AACL, Late Tuesday reported Q1 earnings of $0.06 per share, ex one-time items, versus the Capital IQ consensus of $0.08. Revenues were $43.9 million, versus the analyst estimate of $45.07 million.The company expects FY13 EPS of $0.32 - $0.34 on revenues of $17 million - $181 million. Analysts are looking for EPS of $0.37 on revenues of $186.66 million.