The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) met today and acknowledged that the pace of economic recovery has slowed since they last met in August. Again, they mention that they expect a modest pace for recovery in the near term, as housing, bank lending and employment are all contracted or depressed. The upshot is that they left the Fed rate at .25 percent and stated they would continue to invest funds with the goal of quantitative easing. You can read the full report on the Federal Reserve website.
The Department of Commerce released their August statement on New Residential Construction today. According to the release (which you can read here), permits for new homes increased by 1.8 percent during the month of August while housing starts increased 10.5 percent.
Initially, after the FOMC statement was released, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising as many as 80 points. But by the end of the trading day the Dow rose just 7.41 points to 10,761.03. The Nasdaq fell 6.48 points to 2,349.35 and the S&P 500 dropped 2.93 points to 1,139.78.
European markets were down today while Asian markets were mixed.
Stocks in the news: Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C), Lennar Corp (NYSE: LEN), Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT).
