The Federal Reserve released the minutes from their June Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting today and the results may not be what investors were hoping to hear. The minutes reveal the expectation of the committee for a modest economic recovery to continue all the way through 2011. They also expect a reduction in the financial stress plaguing the U.S. and an increase in consumer confidence. That doesn’t sound so bad—and for those looking for continued economic recovery, it’s not.
The problem came in when the minutes suggested that most members anticipated slower growth and reduction in unemployment than they had before. This brought investors’ spirits down and resulted in a shaky Dow for most of the day. Although it seemed it was going to be a down day for all U.S. markets, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed today at 10,366.65, up 3.63 points from Tuesday. The Nasdaq also eked out a gain totaling 7.81 points to close at 2,249.84 The S7P 500 was down less than one point to close at 1,095.17.
European markets were mixed with Germany’s DAX the only market closing up. Asian markets were remarkably more positive, with all indices three up.
