Stock Market News For Sep 20, 2017
Zacks Investment Research | Sep 19, 2017 10:40PM ET
Benchmarks closed higher on Tuesday as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) two day meeting kicked off. Market watchers speculated that the central bank would likely announce the gradual unwinding of its $4.5 million balance sheet. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump made his debut speech at the United Nations General Assembly and urged the member states to combat ‘rouge’ nations like North Korea and Iran. He also commented that if North Korea does not stop threatening the United States and its allies, the U.S. might ‘totally destroy’ North Korea.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed at 22,370.80, gaining 0.2%. The S&P 500 Index (INX) increased 0.1% to close at 2,506.65. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index (IXIC) closed at 6,461.32, increasing 0.1%. A total of 5.8 billion shares were traded on Tuesday, higher than the last 20-session average of 5.9 billion shares. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1.09-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, advancers outnumbered decliners by 1.04-to-1 ratio. The CBOE VIX decreased 1.1% to close at 10.04.
Federal Open Market Committee Meeting Kicks Off
Broader markets gained after the Federal Open Market Committee two day meeting begun on Tuesday. Investors had a keen eye for the Fed meeting as they expected the central bank to finally begin unwinding its $4.5 trillion balance sheet. However, the market watchers do not expect any rate hikes from the Fed as the inflation rates have persistently remained below the target of 2%.
Moreover, economists commented that the unwinding would be slow as any reaction by the market to such an unprecedented event would be unknown. In the backdrop of excellent import data, the CME FedWatch probability of a rate hike in December is around 58.3%. The U.S. import prices have surged 0.6% in the last month, buoyed by an increase in the petroleum costs, registering its biggest increase in the past seven months.
The Dow added 39.45 points to close in the positive territory, marking its eighth straight session of gains and 41st record for 2017. Shares of Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) gained 2.6% and 0.6% respectively, contributing to the most of the gains for Dow. Both the companies possess a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can Original post
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