Wall Street closed in the red as investors hold off ahead of March FOMC

Wall Street was subdued with benchmarks on the back foot as investors take the foot off the gas ahead of the FOMC next week as uncertainty rallies. 

Forex today: dollar and US yields bounce back

Yellen spoke last week as the final and most important voice of the Fed speakers who have sung from the same hymn sheet that a rate hike is appropriate soon and the market is expecting a hike as soon as this month. This is a quick turnaround in sentiment and investors don't quite know what to do with it. On one hand, it is encouraging that markets have a renewed sense of confidence in the Fed, but ultimately it may not be all that good for the stock market in the medium term. 

The Dow was closing below 21,000 points at the start of the week dropping 49 points, or 0.2%, to end at 20,956. The S&P 500 dropped 7 points, or 0.3%, to finish at 2,375 while the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 21 points, or 0.4%, to close at 5,849.

Meanwhile, markets will be monitoring economic developments between now and the FOMC and keep an ear to the ground in respect to Trump's U.S. tax policy and other Trump administration fiscal priorities that are still as clear as mud. 

S&P 500 levels