US stocks fell on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged and delivered a rare split vote that underscored growing unease inside the central bank. The S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped roughly 0.7% after the Fed decision.
The Federal Open Market Committee voted 8-4 to leave its benchmark rate at 3.5% to 3.75%, the first time since 1992 that four members have dissented from a Fed decision. Governor Stephen Miran voted for a cut, while Beth Hammack, Neel Kashkari and Lorie Logan opposed the statement’s easing bias even as they backed keeping the target range in place.
The move was widely anticipated, but the size of the split gave the day more weight than the policy hold itself. Fed Chair Jerome Powell was expected to hold what could be his final press conference as chair later on Wednesday, adding to the sense that investors were watching not just the rate decision but the tone that would follow it.
The central bank said developments in the Middle East were creating a high level of uncertainty about the economic outlook and said it was attentive to risks on both sides of its mandate. That warning came as oil prices surged more than 4%, with Brent crude crossing $111 per barrel and US WTI moving above $106 per barrel after Brent futures earlier touched a nearly four-year high of $119.50, according to data.
Markets were already bracing for a heavy stretch of Big Tech earnings and had pulled back from record highs on Tuesday. Seagate stood out on Wednesday, rising 17% after posting a stronger-than-expected profit and revenue outlook, while Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft were set to report after the close. The Fed’s April meeting ended with the policy rate unchanged, but the dissents showed how much the conversation inside the committee has shifted even before Powell took the podium.
For Wall Street, the bigger signal may be that the fight over the next move is now visible in the vote count itself. A unanimous pause would have looked like caution; an 8-4 split looked like a central bank divided over what comes next.
