Friends
After a somewhat historic month for stocks, the market averages seem to simply run out of gas on this the last trading day of the month. Suffice it to say that October was still a great month for stocks in general and now we turn our attention to tomorrow’s FOMC meeting and next week’s election.
As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 128 points to finish the day at 32,732. The S&P 500 was down 29 points to close at 3,871. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 114 points to close at 10,988. Gold was down $8 to trade at $1,636 per ounce, while oil was down $1.67 to trade at $ 86.23 per barrel WTI.
It is pretty clear that the Fed will raise the Fed Funds rate once again on Wednesday afternoon, and it will likely be by 75 basis points. That will take the Fed Funds rate to 3.75% to 4.00%. What is not exactly clear is what the Fed will do at the December meeting and beyond. Market participants will be looking for Fed guidance with regards to future rate hikes and if the Fed might be willing to at least determine what lagging effects on the economy the recent hikes may have produced. So, buckle up, it should be a busy week for the markets.
Happy Halloween Everyone.
