Wall Street retreats, but once again books solid monthly gains

• Dow ends month comfortable above 26,000 up around 1,700 points.
• Rate hikes on the horizon made bulls hesitate, but not ready to quit.

Following a volatile session, US major indexes closed in the green, although off their daily highs after the Fed hinted more rate hikes in the horizon. A strong start to the day lost momentum ahead of the Fed's announcement, which resulted in the Nasdaq and the S&P briefly entering negative territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 73 points, to close at 26.150.63. The Nasdaq Composite finished at 7,411.48, up 9 points, while the S&P added 0.5% or 1 point, ending the day at 2,823.81. All of them booked strong monthly gains. Within the Dow, Boeing was the best performer by adding 5.04%, followed by Microsoft that gained 2.45%. Johnson & Johnson led decliners by losing 2.44%.

Technical view

The daily chart shows that the index bounced from a bullish 20 DMA, while technical indicators have pared their declines right above their mid-lines, indicating that bulls are trying to fight back. Shorter term, and according to the 4 hours chart, the risk of additional declines is not over yet, as the index was unable to regain ground above a bearish 20 SMA, currently at 26,343, while technical indicators bounced from oversold territory, but remain well below their mid-lines.