Having fallen two days in a row, there was no sign of a change of fortunes for investors this morning.
The Dow Jones was down 136 points at 17,213 in the first 15 minutes of trade as the market tried to get to grips with yesterday's statement from the Fed's policy-making committee and absorbed the weekly jobless stats.
The broader-based S&P 500 was off 17 points at 2,080 while the tech-heavy was down 40 points at 5,019.
"The build up to the first rate hike from the US is starting to get tortuous; the market wants clear direction from the Fed, but the Fed is resisting it," suggested Kathleen Brooks, at foreign exchange platform provider, Forex.com.
"Our view is that the decision will come down to the wire, with the market lurching at key employment, wage and inflation data between now and then," she added.
Jasper Lawler, a market analyst at spread betting firm CMC Markets, was equally baffled by the smoke signals emanating from the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) hut yesterday.
"What the Fed is doing at the moment is almost the worst of both worlds for markets; it’s saying it wants to tighten monetary policy but the economy is not strong enough. The markets currently have neither the prospect of sustained loose monetary policy nor economic strength to fall back on," he suggested.
Meanwhile, the foreign exchange markets continue to experience a wild ride, with Kazakhstan opting to let its currency, the tenge, find its own level, particularly against the Chinese renminbi and the Russian ruble - Kazakhstan's two biggest trading partners, both of which have seen their currencies devalue swiftly in recent weeks.
Back in the USA, as Chuck Berry once sang, first-time jobless claims rose for the fourth week in a row, but remained below the 300,000 level that is regarded as a crossover point in terms of indicating the health of the economy.
Claims rose by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 277,000 in the week to August 15, the highest level since early July.
Though there was plenty of blood in the street, there were some bright spots to be found, such as drugs firm Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), which was up US$4.77 to US$88.51 after its EMPA-REG OUTCOME study reached its primary endpoint.
The long-term clinical trial is investigating cardiovascular outcomes for the Jardiance drug in more than 7,000 adults that have type 2 diabetes.
The primary endpoint was defined as time to first occurrence of either cardiovascular death, or non-fatal myocardial infarction or non-fatal stroke.
Sector peer Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:VRX, TSE:VRX) was down in the dumps on reports it is to splash out US$1bn on Sprout Pharmaceuticals, a company that has just been granted permission to sell pills dubbed as the female version of Viagra.
Valeant's shares drooped 2.4% to US$238.76 in early trading.
Elsewhere, The Madison Square Garden Company's (NYSE:MSG) results proved not to be a crowd-pleaser.
The company reported a fourth quarter net profit of US$45.7mln, up from US$11.6mln a year earlier.
Earnings per share of 60 cents were four times the previous year's level, and well ahead of the 39 cents forecast by analysts who cover the stock. Despite this, and moving higher in pre-market trading, the stock was off 2.6% at US$74.43.
Also getting a tonking were the shares of Verso (NYSE:VRS), after the paper & pulp firm announced plans to reduce production capacity.
The company plans to mothball its mill in Wickliffe, Kentucky, and make cutbacks elsewhere that will result in its production capacity being reduced by 430,000 tons of coated paper and 130,000 tons of dried market pulp.
The shares were pulped, fall just over 9% to 30 cents.
Retailer Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD), which saw its shares sold off heavily yesterday, was in the doghouse again this morning after its second quarter results failed to impress.
The company performed a sleight of hand, appearing to move back into the black, but this was only achieved as a result of one-off gains from asset sales.
The top line continues to head south, as do the shares.