Equities close slightly lower, trade choppy after Fed rate cut
Wed September 18, 2024 4:29 PM
The Fed usually makes its announcements right around 2 pm and it was almost exactly 2 pm when all three indexes skyrocketed following a session that was close to flat all around as the markets awaited the news. Then with the coming of an historic outsized ½ point rate cut, everything zoomed, the Dow almost 400 points with the rest of the session being a repeating frequent choppy pattern between big gains and modest losses with all three closing modestly down.
As was stated yesterday, whatever the Fed’s decision, half of the market was going to be frustrated and that was certainly reflected in all the schizophrenic action. To allay recession fears, Powell felt it necessary to emphasize that the large cut in no way reflected any lack of Fed confidence in the health of the economy as it remains well on the path to the 2% inflation goal while remaining quite resilient. In fact, quite the opposite, he felt the ½ point cut reflected strong confidence that the economy would easily roll with the punches. Forecasts are now for at least two and possibly three more cuts in November and December. Volume came in at 11.63 billion, above the 10.82 average.
DJ: 41,606.18 -15.90 NAS: 17,628.06 +35.93 S&P: 5,634.58 +1.49 9/17
DJ: 41,503.10 -103.08 NAS: 17,573.30 -54.76 S&P: 5,618.26 -16.32 9/18
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