Ferguson Quoted, “Some late selling caused stocks to rollover in the final hour and close near the neutral line as the major indices started the session in higher ground as participants responded to strong overseas gains and a downturn in the U.S. dollar.” “Gains among the major indices were both broad and strong.”
Participants also digested in the early going the ADP Employment Change Report for October. The report indicated that last month private payrolls fell by 203,000, which is a bit worse than the 198,000 job losses that were widely expected. The ADP Report is a precursor to the official nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.
In other economic news, the ISM Services Index for October came in at 50.6. Though any reading above 50 denotes expansion, the October reading fell short of the 51.5 that had been forecast.
Reaction to the data was relatively muted as participants were largely focused on the latest FOMC policy statement, which was released midafternoon. The directive indicated that the FOMC will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0.00% to 0.25% and it continues to anticipate that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.
The statement was met with a volatile response by stocks, while the Dollar Index extended its losses. It settled with a 0.7% decline, its worst single-session percentage drop in two weeks.
