There has been little interest in today's FOMC interest rate decision, and with good reason. The Fed isn't doing anything. Fed members have unanimously agreed to hold rates steady; they say risks are balanced and sentiment has improved slightly. Overall it is a slightly dovish statement and the market is happy with it.
There is some slight movement in bonds, the dollar and the indices, but it is a very mild movement. The market simply does not view the Fed as an important catalyst at this time. The focus is still on fiscal policy and how that is going to develop. The Fed is not going to be able to do much until there is more certainty about how the new administration is going to deal with Obamacare, tax reform and other financial matters.
The indices are up very slightly on the news, but it has been a tough day with many stocks well off the highs they hit at the open. Apple (AAPL) is covering up some technical distribution. Breadth is running 2,950 gainers to 3,700 losers with small-caps lagging today. (Apple is part of TheStreet's Action Alerts PLUS portfolio.)
Overall it is sloppy action, but there are some select trades working. Pulmatrix (PULM) , for example, is at the top of the speculative scan and Advanced Micro (AMD) has been chased all day, but it's mostly Apple driving the indices.
I'm looking to put back on some index hedges in the form or Ultrashort Russell 2000 (TWM) , but the market has rallied sharply into the close the last two days and I want to see if there is a replay before building any shorts.
