Well, as I expected, the Fed decision on interest rates was pretty much a non-event. As a matter of fact, the entire day in the market felt like a non-event. The market didn’t move much before the Fed announcement, and didn’t move much afterward. The Dow Industrials finished higher by 5 points (+0.1%) at 10257, the S&P 500 fell 1 point to 1161, and the Nasdaq gained 4 points (+0.2%) to 1933. The Russell 2000 fell 1 point to 584, The Dow Transports were unchanged, the Dow Utilities fell 1.1% and bonds rallied yet again, pushing the 10-year Treasury yield back down to 4.17% - while the Fed raises short term rates. The bond market doesn’t care.
Market internals were mixed, with advances/declines at 5 to 6 on the NYSE and 7 to 8 on the Nasdaq, up/down volume at 2 to 3 on the NYSE but 3 to 2 on the Nasdaq, and new highs/low 49/48 on the NYSE but 41/123 on the Nasdaq.
Groups moving higher today were airlines (+2.1%) and gold & silver stocks (+1.1%). Losing ground were the energy stocks: oil services (-2.6%), natural gas (-2.0%) and oil stocks (-1.8%). Hospitals were also down, losing 1.3%.
Crude oil prices fell back below the $50 mark to $49.50/barrel. The dollar index was pretty much unchanged again, and gold prices dipped slightly to $428/ounce.
Not too much information to be taken away from today’s action, other than the fact that interest rates appear to be staying low for the time being. Never mind that the Fed is trying to push them up on the low end - the bond market doesn’t seem to notice.