Following JPMorgan Chase's acquisition of the troubled First Republic Bank, Wall Street stocks ended the day slightly lower as markets moved cautiously ahead of a Federal Reserve decision.
At the start of a news-packed week that also includes Apple earnings and a report on April's employment numbers, all three main indexes closed in the negative after a bumpy session.
At 34,051.70, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had a 0.1 percent decline.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index also down 0.1 percent to 12,212.60, while the broad-based S&P 500 fell less than 0.1 percent to 4,167.87.
After First Republic was placed under receivership by federal officials, the last significant problem bank from a recent wave of issues, the JPMorgan deal followed.
According to a statement from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the biggest bank in the United States, JPMorgan, would take on all of First Republic's deposits and “almost” all of its assets under the terms of the arrangement.
According to Edward Moya of Oanda, “Wall Street is breathing a sigh of relief” after the First Republic agreement, and “it is starting to look like a few major banking issues will not end up leading to a banking crisis.”
However, Moya issued a warning that investors hoping for an end to interest rate hikes after May may be disappointed by the Fed's policy decision on Wednesday.
According to Moya, the Fed “might delay signaling they are ready to hold rates steady after one more hike.” “This market is not ready to price in the possibility that the Fed will choose to maintain its vigilance.”
The Institute for Supply Management reported that US industrial activity decreased for the sixth consecutive month.
