September 17, 2015: Markets opened slightly lower on Thursday as investors couldn’t decide which way to place their bets on the Fed: would the FOMC raise rates or wouldn’t it? By 2 p.m. ET, frazzled nerves were soothed by the central bank’s decision to wait. Equity prices jumped and gold prices, which settled at $1,117 earlier, rose by nearly $8 an ounce on the news.Crude oil settled down 0.5% at $46.90 a barrel. As the closing bell draws near, though, the DJIA traded barely below the break even line while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite remained in the green. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded down 0.13% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.01%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.43%.
The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Thursday was JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) which traded lower by 2.26% at $62.69. The stock’s 52-week range is $50.07 to $70.61. Trading volume was about 5% lower than the daily average of around 16 million. The company had no specific news today.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) traded down 2.04% at $45.25. The stock’s 52-week range is $38.06 to $51.73. Trading volume was about 50% above the daily average of around 15 million. The company said this morning earnings in 2016 may plateau at the same level as 2015 earnings.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) traded down 1.86% at $74.23. The stock’s 52-week range is $70.23 to $107.12. About 5.4 million shares traded hands today, roughly 15% less than the daily average of about 6.4million. The company had no specific news today.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) traded down 1.22% at $114.99. The stock’s 52-week range is $92.00 to $134.54. Trading volume was about 10% below the daily average of around 58 million. The company got some competition for its tablets and TV boxes today thanks to new products from Amazon.
Of the Dow 30 stocks 16 are set to close lower today and 14 are on track to close higher.
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