U.S. stocks ended mixed on Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged during its July meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 171.71 points, or 0.38 percent, finishing at 44,461.28. The S and P 500 declined 7.96 points, or 0.12 percent, to close at 6,362.90. In contrast, the Nasdaq Composite edged up 31.38 points, or 0.15 percent, reaching 21,129.67.
Eight of the S and P 500's 11 major sectors ended the day lower. Materials and real estate led the losses, falling 1.99 percent and 1.43 percent, respectively. On the other hand, utilities and technology saw gains, rising 0.69 percent and 0.43 percent, respectively.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), facing internal divisions, voted to keep its benchmark interest rate steady despite pushback from U.S. President Donald Trump and dissent from two key officials.
FOMC voted 9 to 2 to hold the federal funds rate within its current range of 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent. Though this rate governs overnight lending between banks, it also influences interest rates throughout the broader economy. The Fed can keep the interest rate steady while waiting to see if tariff policy pushes up inflation, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said.
"Our obligation is to keep longer term inflation expectations well anchored and to prevent a one-time increase in the price level from becoming an ongoing inflation problem," Powell said. "Higher tariffs have begun to show through more clearly to prices of some goods, but their overall effects on economic activity and inflation remain to be seen."
Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman and Fed Governor Christopher Waller both voted against the decision, urging rate cuts as they believe inflation is under control and signs of labor market softening are emerging. This marked the first time since 1993 that more than one Fed governor dissented in a single policy vote.
Earlier Wednesday, data issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce showed that the U.S. economy expanded at an annualized rate of 3 percent in the second quarter, significantly outpacing the 2.3 percent increase expected by economists.
Among major tech stocks, performance was mixed. Apple, Tesla, Amazon and Meta posted slight losses. Meanwhile, chipmakers Nvidia and Broadcom each gained around 2 percent. Microsoft along with Alphabet also registered modest increases.
U.S. stocks close mixed as Fed extends pause on rate cuts
The Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army in northeast China's Harbin released on Thursday a 38-minute video of a former member of Unit 731, a notorious Japanese germ-warfare unit during World War II (WWII).
In the footage, former Unit 731 member Tsuruo Nishijima detailed how the unit used meteorological data to carry out bacterial dispersal and frostbite experiments.
The video was recorded in 1997 by Japanese scholar Fuyuko Nishisato and donated to the exhibition hall in 2019, according to the hall, which was built on the former site of the headquarters of Unit 731 in Harbin, capital city of Heilongjiang Province.
Nishijima joined Unit 731 in October 1938 and served in the unit's meteorological squad. The squad was not a simple observation section but rather an auxiliary force supporting the unit's human experiments in the field by measuring wind direction, wind speed and other conditions to ensure optimal experimental results.
Nishijima confirmed in the footage that "the meteorological squad had to be present at every field experiment." He testified to the "rainfall experiments" conducted by Unit 731, which involved aircraft releasing bacterial agents at extremely low altitudes.
At a field-testing site in Anda City, Heilongjiang, Unit 731 aircraft descended to about 50 meters above the ground and sprayed bacterial culture liquids onto "maruta" -- human test subjects -- who were tied to wooden stakes. Each experiment involved about 30 people, spaced roughly 5 meters apart. After the experiments, the victims were loaded into sealed trucks and transported back to the unit, where their symptoms and disease progression were recorded over a period of several days.
Nishijima also revealed that a Japanese military doctor once died after removing the mask and becoming infected during an experiment, indirectly proving the extreme virulence of the bacterial agents.
The video further disclosed details of the meteorological squad's involvement in frostbite experiments. To study wartime needs in frigid regions, the invading Japanese army forced the victims to expose their bodies for five to ten minutes in temperatures ranging from minus 20 to minus 35 degrees Celsius and observed their physical reactions.
"For example, during frostbite experiments, we would be sent outside to observe the weather. They wouldn't bring many people out at once, only two or three, who would be forced to take off their upper garments or all their clothes. In fact, it was already quite tough to stay out there for five to ten minutes, because it was too cold," Nishijima said.
According to the exhibition hall, Unit 731 had a separate frostbite laboratory, with Hisato Yoshimura serving as the leader of the unit's frostbite study squad from 1938 to 1945.
In a paper on frostbite published in 1941, Yoshimura recorded data from live human experiments to study the occurrence of frostbite and pathological changes in the human body under different conditions.
"This is a form from the paper. Titled 'The Severity and Process of Frostbite,' it divides frostbite into three stages. The symptoms of the first-degree frostbite are redness and swelling. Blisters appear in the second stage. And the third-degree frostbite features necrosis and ulceration. It says here that, in the third stage, from the 50th to the 60th day, toes and fingers detached. There is no doubt that these data were obtained through numerous human experiments," said Tan Tian, a researcher of the exhibition hall.
Nishijima's video, a piece of oral history from a perpetrator's perspective, further reconstructs the criminal chain of Unit 731 and once again demonstrates that the invading Japanese army's biological warfare crime was systematic and inhumane, and was an undeniable historical truth, according to the exhibition hall.
"Unit 731's frostbite experiments were essentially conducted to prevent and treat frostbite during combat in cold environments. However, for the so-called prevention and treatment of frostbite, they caused frostbite on living people for experiments and data analysis. So in nature, it still serves the purpose of war," said Jin Shicheng, director of the Department of Publicity, Education and Exhibition at the hall.
Unit 731 was a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base established in Harbin as the nerve center for Japanese biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during WWII.
At least 3,000 people were used for human experiments by Unit 731, and more than 300,000 people in China were killed by Japan's biological weapons.
Video offers new evidence of Japan's wartime germ-warfare crimes in northeast China
