Are. Near historic lows. But it was less what the fed did or didnt do, and more what it said and didnt say that got investors attention today. It said, among other things, it was monitoring Global Economic and financial events and watching how they might effect our job market and inflation. And uncharacteristically, it deleted any reference to how it assesses the balance of risks to the u. S. Economy, a sign, say some fed watchers, that janet yellen and friends are a little more worried than they were just six weeks ago. Those renewed concerns pressured stocks, so did the fact that the fed didnt explicitly take a rate hike off the table for march when it meets next. The Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 222 points to 15,944. The nasdaq fell 99. The s p 500 lost 20. Hampton pearson has more now on whats worrying the central bank. Reporter the First Federal reserve meeting of 2016 ended with Monetary Policymakers keeping Interest Rates unchanged but pledging to closely monitor the Global Economy and financial markets. Since the middecember rate hike, major markets and oil prices have declined and chinas economy has struggled. The initial Market Reaction was negative because Monetary Policymakers gave no hints they plan to slow future rate hikes. 2016 levels of global leverage make it very hard in my opinion to emphasize 5 unemployment when oil and Commodity Prices are deflating by 50 year over year. Reporter the fed said while Overall Economic growth has slowed, labor markets have improved, but the drop in oil prices and stronger dollar finds policymakers no longer reasonably confident the fed can reach its 2 inflation target over the next few years. Some analysts say that continued strong job growth leaves the door open for a rate hike in march. I dont think the fed has changed their playbook. Labor Market Conditions are still solid, and if we continue to see improvement, the fed will still consider a rate hike. Fed has a bit of a credibility problem because they probably waited too long to raise rates in the first place. Now they have to stay on course for a while. Reporter two weeks from today fed chair janet yellen will have a chance to address those market concerns when she reports to congress on the economy and Monetary Policy. For nightly Business Report, im Hampton Pearson in washington. Lets turn to randy for more analysis on the fed and economy. Hes a former fed governor and now a professor of economics at the university of chicagos Boothe School of business. Also a frequent and welcomed guest here on nbr. Randy, good to see you again. Great to be with you. What do you make of what the fed did or perhaps better said did not do today . And the markets response to it . So i thought it was very interesting that they no longer said the risks are balanced on inflation and growth. They took that phrase out suggesting theyre a little bit more concerned and so that would suggest to me that unless we see some inflation outbursts which would seem extremely unlikely theyre not going to seriously consider a rate hike in march and i cant really see it even being seriously considered before june. So that would really mean that really theyre on hold for much of the first half of this year. One of the things they did sort of reinsert into their statement was a reference to Global Economic and Market Conditions. They had dropped that in december after having it in, as i recall, in september. Does this suggest to you that thats a major factor in their Decision Making . I wouldnt say its a major factor, but they have to be cognizant of it. Ha theyre going to do is figure out what is diving the markets. Theyre not just reacting to the markets because if you react to the narcotmarkets predict ten o last three recessions. Have to be careful of responding when the market moves. What theyre going to thrry to e is whats behind this, Slower Growth going forward, or fragility coming from china. Theyre going to take a pause like in september. They didnt make the move then. They waited until december. They want to see what will be the, you know, whether they can kind of get behind whats moving the markets now. You know, randy, i was also interested that although they cant really see inflation in the pipeline, they didnt seem to be all that concerned with the decline that weve seen in crude oil which many people are calling deflationary at this point. I found that curious. Well, they said theyre going to be monitoring the inflation issues very closely as they always say. They did note that inflation expectations, at least marketbased measures have come down, have declined recently. If you look back to the december statement, they said that they remained low, so they were low and now theyve come down. So it becomes much more difficult for the fed to say, aha, inflation is rising, when Market Expectations are are coming down and were not seeing much evidence of that. I think they didnt want to expolice sex plis explicitly acknowledge the oil but has moved down. We have a muddling economy. The Hedge Fund Manager ray dalio said from where he sits hes not quite sure the fed has the weapons it might traditionally deploy to give the economy a jolt if it needs to. Do you agree . Well, you know, the fed brought rates down to zero and still was able to do more through asset purchases and thats why the feds Balance Sheet is now over 4 trillion. That said, easing, asset purchases does have a diminishing effect over time, but Monetary Policy is not the only game in town. Its a necessary condition to have to avoid both deflation and high inflation, but to get the economy going, you need a lot more than that. You need to have Business Confidence and given the uncertainty on the fiscal side, uncertainty on the regulatory side, particularly during this political season, thats what you really need to resolve to get growth going. All right, randy, well leave it there. Thank you so much for joining us. Randy kroszner with the university of chicago Boothe School of business. The fed isnt the only reason stocks fell. Weak outlooks to two dow components, apple and boeing. Apple is forecasting a decline in revenue in the Current Quarter and says iphone sales grew at the slowest pace since the devices introduction. And boeing also issued a gloomy earnings forecast for the year. Both stocks fell sharply. Apple was off 6. 5 , while boeing fell nearly 9 . And that move in boeing was the worst since 2001. But whats behind the aerospace companys weak forecast . As phil lebeau reports, a lot of it has to do with the number of commercial airplanes it plans to deliver. Reporter despite a record backlog of orders, boeings delivery of new airplanes is slowing down for the first time in six years. The decline is not huge. Dropping from 762 planes last year to between 740 and 745 this year. Whats changed . One factor is the transition to a new version of the 737. Boeings most popular plane. The Company Plans to build 42 737s every month. But with new edgngines and wing featuring winlets on the tip to save on fuel, the 737 max is a different plane. Boeing says the first versions of the max will include test planes and about a dozen models that will go into inventory and not be immediately delivered. In addition, boeing will be shipping fewer of the 747 jumbo jets. But in a year when airbus is increasing deliveries, investors are asking, why isnt boeing doing the same thing . More importantly, is this delivery dip a hiccup or inkidk indicative of a broader slowdown . After pausing this year, delivery and profits will pick up in 2017. Youll see deliveries will grow as we execute on the backlog. So just stepping back from a year of transition looking out to 2017, 2018, youll see revenue growth, youll see earnings growth. Youll see cash growth. We remain very confident in that story. Reporter boeing says demand for commercial airplanes remains strong not only in the near term but looking out over the next 20 years. Which is why the company is dramatically increasing 737 production in 2017 and again in 2019. Phil lebeau, nightly Business Report, chicago. Component United Technologies reported a decline in revenue against all for of its divisions. Maker of jet engines, oldest elevators said it was hit, but it topped earnings estimate, reaffirmed its forecast for the year and said it will continue cutting costs and sent shares higher albeit by just a little bit on this down market day. Oil, of course, has been a headache for the market. You know the pattern. When crude prices fall, stocks follow. And vice versa. But today there was a break in that trend. And on this down market day, Oil Prices Rose on talk of potential production cuts. According to reports, russia hinted at the possibility of cooperation with opec to cut back on supply. And that sent prices more than 2. 5 higher to settle above 32 a barrel. The prices are still historically low. While thats bad news for the energy industry, its good news for a number of states, sectors, and companies. We take a look at who benefits. Reporter if youre filling up these days, these prices look mighty fine. Its a blessing. We do more traveling being that the gasoline is a lower price now. Reporter most folks havent seen gas this cheap since around 2008. So why are many people talking about the negative consequences of oil . Well, the stock market doesnt like it. If more, of course, the oil remains the yeye of the storm. Reporter Biggest Companies are losing as a result. Theres upside to low oil as well. Low oil prices benefit the transportation infrastructure sectors, airports, seaports and toll roads. The key benefit, it increases the propensity to travel for toll roads and reduces the costs for airlines and shipping lines to move goods or people from one location to another. Reporter though oilproducing states like alaska, north dakota, texas, and louisiana are the harde esest hy the oil slump, if youre in new york, florida, illinois, even california and many other states there are a lot of benefits from low oil prices. Sectors like transport that includes airlines, trucking companies, Fast Food Companies and lower end retailers, cheap oil and gas is a good thing. States that see tourism and regions with industries dependent on buying fuel for everyday business activities, even farmers are reaping the benefits of low oil. Companies across the spectrum that are consumer based are benefiting. The autos like gm and ford who had record sales years. The retailers like walmart, macys, who have seen better results now as consumers finally spend that gas savings. Royal cruise lines, Carnival Cruise lines, and even wall street disney world. As people finally have the money saved and are able to go on vacation and spend these gas savings. Im in disbelief that this could be considered a negative for the u. S. Economy, an economy thats 70 the consumer, a consumer thats saiing 700 million a day compared to two, three years ago. Reporter not everyone agrees. We havent seen the bump i thought or most economists would see, for example, in retail or in restaurants. A lot of those stocks have been doing just as badly with gas down at 2 or under 2 a gallon as before. Most people like to whine about gas prices when they go above, lets say, 4 a gallon but doesnt affect how much gas they buy, demand doesnt change that much. Reporter tell that to these people. I like to travel a lot now. I can save money on gas, why not travel . Its easy to fill up your tanks sometimes. Reporter for nightly Business Report next. Got that right. All right. Theres an app for that. Coming to a bank or Street Corner near you. Atm machines that use smartphones, not cards, to let you get cash. There was a rush to buy new homes last month. The Commerce Department reports that sales rose nearly 11 in december. Thats the strongest pace in ten months. Sales of new homes accelerated throughout 2015. Thanks to steady job growth and low mortgage rates. From the Worlds Largest economy to the second largest. China. Secretary of state john kerry was in that country meeting with highlevel officials to discuss global and regional issues including north korea. We report from beijing. Reporter secretary of state john kerry ended a twoday visit to beijing. Kerry came here with the hopes of securing further commitment from china to pressure north korea from developing nuclear weapons. China is a key ally of the north korean regime which recently claimed to have tested the Hydrogen Bomb in early january. The two sides agreed on the need of a u. N. Resolution, north Koreas Nuclear tests. However, after hours of discussions with his chinese counterpart, kerry failed to convince china to support additional sanctions on pyongyang. We need to reach consensus on a strong u. N. Security council resolution, but we have yet to fill out the parameters of exactly what it will do or say. Reporter kerry also discussed the need for the u. S. And china to reduce tensions in the south china sea. China claims most of that body of water and has antagonized its water, many who dispute chinas rights. The u. S. Believes a settlement over the waters should be handled with diplomacy. Separately, the man in charge of chinas Economic Data is under investigation. The communist partys Anticorruption Commission said late last night that it is looking into serious violations. The commission did not release any further details. But for years many have questioned the reliability of chinas Economic Data although it is unclear if this robe is related to his current position as head of chinas statistics bureau. Facebooks quarterly revenue surpasses 5 billion for the first time ever. Thats where we begin tonights market focus. The social networking companys earnings more than doubled as Advertising Sales increased more than expected. The company also benefiting from a surge in video views. That sent shares up initially in afterhours trading, the green part of the line, folks. The stock finished the regular session 3 lower. Ebay shares, meanwhile, came under pressure late today after the Online Auction site warned firstquarter profits will come in below expectations. Also reported, its fourth straight quarter of declining year over year sales. Shares dropped sharply in afterhours trading. Thats the red part of that line. Ebay finished the regular session down fractionally at 2642. Paypal spun off from ebay posted better than expected results. The payment processer said it added customers and processed more payments. Paypal also announced a 2 billion stock buyback program. Shares rose sharply in afterhours trading and finished the regular session with a fraction of decline at 3159. Biogen beat earnings targets because of strong sales of its oral multiple sclerosis drug. The 2016 outlook was in line with estimates. Shares up 5 to 273. 26. Tupperware cited a weeker Global Economy and strong dollar for a worse than expected sales drop and an earnings miss. The maker of household storage products gets more than 70 of its revenue outside the united states. As a result, taupperware battle what it calls economic and political headwinds. Shares fell nearly 15 to 4397. Health Insurer Anthem said its profit fell in the quarter, weighed down by costs of the Affordable Care act plans. The company said it had momentum heading into 2016 with more people enrolling in its medicaid plans and it would be helped by the pending acquisition of cigna. Shares of anthem were off about 5 . Norfolk southern said that its profit fell 30 on lower freight volumes. Coal, in particular. The railroad also said it will shed 1,200 jobs this year. As part of a fiveyear cost cutting plan. The move comes as Norfolk Southern tries to fend off a 28 million takeover bid from its rival, canadian pacific. Shares of norfolk today up more than a percent. The federal trade commission is suing the Parent Company of devrie university saying the company deceived students about job prospects after education. In addition the department of education cracking down on forprofit schools recently said it ordered devrie to stop making certain claims about its graduates employment or risk losing federal student loan money. Shares of the Education Group fell 15 to 20. 09. Withdrawing cash from your bank account used to mean waiting in line for a teller then it meant using your atm card. Now as kayla tells us, jp morgan wants it to be as simple as downloading an app. Reporter weve got smartphones, smarthomes, smartwatches and your atm is getting smarter, too. We view this as much broader than a cash dispenser. Reporter jpmorgan chase, the countrys largest bank, is overhauling its 18,000 atms and soon you wont need a card to use them. At the eatm launching later this year it wont matter if you left your wallet at home. Log into the chase app, find the sevendigit code and type it into any chase atm in your vicinity. Its one of hundreds of features brainstormed at the Bank Innovation center in columbus, ohio. Some i