The Federal Reserve opted to maintain interest rates at its November policy meeting, but also offered a strong assessment of the economy, suggesting a rate hike in December is on course.
Continue Reading Below
That took the air out of Thursday’s rally and is impacting stocks in Europe and Asia Friday morning.
Dow Jones futures were trading lower by 0.32 percent. The S&P 500 slipped 0.39 percent and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.55 percent.
Investors will get more data to digest including October’s read on producer prices and the latest on consumer sentiment.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | %Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 26191.22 | +10.92 | +0.04% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 2806.83 | -7.06 | -0.25% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 7530.8849 | -39.87 | -0.53% |
Stocks ended the Thursday session mixed as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s expected decision to maintain interest rates at their current level. The Fed’s statement showed no significant changes from their prior meeting, while policymakers did deliver an upbeat assessment of the U.S. economy.
Advertisement
The Dow Jones Industrial Average squeaked out a modest gain led by 3M, Cisco and American Express. As Caterpillar, Exxon Mobil and General Electric slipped.
Traders also digested weekly jobless claims, which fell to 214,000, in line with economists’ expectations. U.S. Oil also slipped into a bear market, falling 20 percent from its highs, on the view more supply will enter the market.
Walt Disney, which is in the process of buying 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets, reported profits of $1.48 per share and revenues of $14.3 billion both of which exceeded analyst estimates. 21st Century Fox is the parent company of FOX Business and Fox News.
More Business News
In Asia on Friday, China’s Shanghai Composite ended the day down 1.4 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng finished the day down 2.4 percent and down 3.3 percent for the week..
Japan’s Nikkei average traded 1 percent lower, almost erasing all gains for the week.
In Europe, London’s FTSE opened lower by 0.5 percent, Germany’s DAX slipped 0.4 percent and France’s CAC declined 0.6 percent.
