The Dow Jones industrial average has added 109.10 points, or 0.6 percent. The S&P 500 fell 5 points, or 0.3%, to 2,084.
Advertisement
“You’re just going to see a market bobbing along here for the foreseeable future”, said Keith Bliss, senior vice president at Cuttone & Co.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note jumped to 2.173% as prices fell.
“They are determined to get something in by the end of the year”, Larry Weiss, head of trading at brokerage firm Instinet, said of the Fed’s statement. “It will take more evidence of a slowdown for them not to push something through…but maybe people don’t believe them”.
“We continue to see a large drag from private inventory investment as trimming headline growth, but with a smaller drag from net trade and more modest equipment investment, the composition of third quarter GDP is likely to be more balanced”, said analysts at Barclays.
Stocks were little swayed by the latest reading on USA economic growth, which showed a slowdown as expected. Mostly disappointing data also dragged on sentiment, highlighted by an early reading on third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) that missed estimates. The USA economy grew at a slower pace in the third quarter, while pending home sales dropped in September for the second month in a row.
Deal-making news lifted shares of health-care companies.
The Nasdaq composite index sank 21.42 points, or 0.4 percent, to 5,074.27.
The S&P energy sector snapped a three-day losing streak, ending up 2.2 percent, after a sharp rally in crude oil prices.
European stocks also posted losses. Germany’s DAX fell 0.3% while the Stoxx Europe 600 index declined less than 0.1%.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX – 14.61) closed with a 0.3-point, or 2% lead, but is still struggling near its 10-day moving average.
The central bank left interest rates unchanged, as was expected, and, in a direct reference to its next meeting, put a December rate hike firmly in play.
Advertisement
Akamai Technologies slumped 19.3% after its quarterly results missed expectations, while chocolate maker Hershey had bitter news for investors, as it reported a 31% drop in earnings ahead of the bell, which dragged shares down 4.07%.
