U.S. Stocks Close Mixed as Fed Holds Interest Rates Steady
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How businesses connect with customers defines their brand. Sierra is the AI platform for building better, more human customer experiences. Fast answers, no canned responses, no hold music, no frustration. Visit sierra.ai to learn more. Here's your closing bell brief for Wednesday, June 18th. I'm Charlotte Gartenberg for The Wall Street Journal.

U.S. stocks ended mixed as the Federal Reserve holds rates steady and rising tensions in the Middle East fuel concerns of disruption in the world's petroleum shipping. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 44 points to close at 42,172. The S&P 500 was down almost two points and the Nasdaq was up 25 points. President Trump criticized Fed Chair Jerome Powell and renewed calls for an interest rate cut.

Powell says the Fed remains well-positioned to respond to any need for interest rate changes and that the labor market is in balance and not the source of inflationary pressure. Policymakers expect to cut rates twice in 2025 and, according to the Fed's economic projections, forecast that inflation will rise above 3 percent by one measure in the coming year.

Turning to individual stocks, toy maker Hasbro laid off 3% of its workforce as part of a multi-year restructuring. Hasbro's stocks closed the day up by a little over half a percent. Shares in the stablecoin issuer Circle rallied after the Senate passed the Genius Act, a bill to regulate the cryptocurrency. The recently listed company has called for guidelines to legitimize the industry. Circle ended the day up about 34%.

Lazy Boy reported mixed quarterly results and said it expects tariffs and a weak housing market to continue weighing on consumers. Shares in the furniture maker ended the day down about 1.25%. U.S. markets will be closed for Juneteenth tomorrow. We'll return Friday with a new closing bell brief. We'll have a lot more coverage of the day's news on the Wall Street Journal's What's News podcast. You can add it to your playlist on your smart speaker or listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

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