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Treasury yields fell Thursday afternoon after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and lowered its interest-rate forecast for the longer run. The 10-year Treasury yield declined 7.7 basis points to 2.226%, while the 30-year yield fell 5.1 basis points to 3.038%. Bond yields fall when prices rise and vice versa. Among shorter maturities, the yield on the two-year Treasury note declined by 7.3 basis points to 0.738%, after a selloff over the past couple of days had driven the yield to its highest level in over four years.

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Gold futures climbed on Globex Thursday, while oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange pared some of its losses after the Federal Open Market Committee left its interest rates unchanged but said it forecasts a hike this year. December gold was at $1,123.70 an ounce in electronic trading after settling on Comex at $1,117, down $2, ahead of the announcement. October oil fell 35 cents, or 0.7%, to $46.80 on Nymex, ahead of its settlement.

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The dollar sank against the euro, yen and its other rivals Thursday after Federal Reserve policy makers left interest rates unchanged. The euro rose to $1.1395, its highest level since Aug. 26, from $1.1340 immediately before the decision was released. The dollar fell to 120.39 yen from 120.90 yen beforehand. The dollar also weakened against a host of emerging-markets currencies including the Mexican peso, which rose to its highest level against the dollar since Aug. 19 after the decision. The peso recently traded at 16.44 to the dollar up from 16.60 beforehand.

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U.S. stocks erased earlier gains and turned lower after the Federal Reserve left its key borrowing rate unchanged. The S&P 500 is down 5 points, or 0.3%, at 1,990. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 49 points, or 0.3%, to 16,693. The Nasdaq Composite lost 5 points, or 0.1% to 4,887.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The Federal Reserve on Thursday lowered its interest-rate forecast for the longer run, a crucial statement that says the U.S. economy is getting less capable of withstanding monetary policy tightening. The median of the Fed’s long-term forecast was lowered to 3.5% from 3.8% in June. The Fed is forecasting a federal funds rate of 0.4% for 2015, 1.4% in 2016, 2.6% in 2017 and 3.4% in 2018, which all are lower than the central bank saw in June. The central bank projected less inflation, trimming its forecast for PCE inflation this year, 2016 and 2017, and not seeing inflation reach the 2% target until 2018. At the same time, the Fed got more optimistic on the unemployment rate, lowering its projections for 2015, 2016, 2017 and the longer term.

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Pinterest, the visual bookmarking site, revealed its user base Thursday, saying it has more than 100 million monthly active users. It said the number of “Pinners” has doubled in the past 18 months and searches have increased 81% year-over-year. The company said international users have doubled in the past year to 45% of total users. The private company has $1.3 billion in equity funding and a valuation of $11 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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Amazon.com Inc. launched a new 7-inch tablet on Thursday that it is offering for $49.99 – or a six pack for $249.95. The company is pushing the low-priced tablet, called Fire OS 5 Bellini, in an effort to gain market share among customers unwilling to pay a premium for Apple’s fleet of iPads. Apple’s lowest-tier iPad, the 7.9-inch iPad mini 2, starts at $269 with 16 gigabytes of storage. Amazon said its new tablet is two-times more durable than the iPad Air, and has two times more processing power than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite. It also boasts having “the best display of any tablet under $50.” The company also launched two next-generation Fire HD tablets, one with an eight-inch display that will retail for $149.99 and another with a 10.1-inch display that will retail for $229.99.

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General Motors Co.’s stock gained 0.8% in morning trade Thursday, after the automaker reached a deal to pay $900 million to settle criminal charges with the U.S. Justice Department related to the company’s handling of an ignition-switch defect. Analyst Michael Ward said the settlement was “lower than most had been expecting,” and removes what has been “an overhang for the stock” for more than a year. He reiterated his buy rating on the stock and his price target or $46, which is 46% above current levels. The stock has dropped 10% over the past year, while Ford Motor Co. shares have lost 6.4% and the S&P 500 has slipped 3%.

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The telecommunications services sector was the worst loser in the S&P 500 on Thursday as the broader market hugged the flatline ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision later in the session. Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. weighed down the sector, falling 3%, after the telecom giant said its 2016 earnings are likely to remain flat from 2015. Frontier Communications Corp. was another big loser, dropping 2.1% while AT&T Inc. and CenturyLink Inc. were both down more than 1%. Level 3 Communications Inc. was off 0.1%.

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Activision Blizzard Inc. announced that its new game, “Destiny: The Taken King,” set a record for the most downloaded day-one game in Sony PlayStation history. It also set a record for a new day-one franchise benchmark for both total players and peak online concurrency, surpassing the original “Destiny” launch last September. In a statement on Thursday, the company, which is behind the e-sports marvel “World of Warcraft,” said its “Destiny” franchise continues to gain momentum. Shares of Activision were up 1% to $30.81 in recent trade. They have risen 24% over the last three months versus a 5% decline for the broader S&P 500. Shares of Sony are up 1.7% to $26.59. The game retails for $59.99.

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