The Rally That Wasn't: Stocks End Mixed
Thanks to a nice late-session pop, the blue-chip
Dow Jones Industrial Average
closed sharply higher, vastly outpacing the rest of the market's major barometers ahead of tomorrow's much-anticipated
Federal Open Market Committee
meeting.
The Dow ended up 80.07, or 1%, to 8108.84, while the
S&P 500
rose 3.94, or 0.4%, to 1048.69. The
Nasdaq Composite Index
, however, fell 4.38, or 0.3%, to 1739.21, while the small-cap
Russell 2000
dropped 1.01, or 0.3%, to 368.01.
Meanwhile, the 30-year Treasury bond was recently down 13/32 to 105 10/32, yielding 5.15%.
Hopes of a cut in the federal funds target rate fueled much of the day's gains.
Around 2 p.m. EDT the Dow began losing a lot of its steam, and around 3 p.m. it was up just 46. Roughly around 3:30, the Dow began its late-day spurt higher.
Meanwhile, shortly before 3 p.m., the Nasdaq Composite and the Russell 2000 dipped into negative territory and never got above water.
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On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,763 advancers led 1,274 decliners on 686.4 million shares.
Nasdaq Stock Market
losers beat winners 2,086 to 1,966 on 696.8 million shares.
On the NYSE, 127 issues hit new 52-week lows while 39 hit new highs. On the Nasdaq, 165 issues were at new lows while new highs totaled 39.
On the Big Board,
Unicom
(UCM)
was the most heavily traded stock, with 13.4 million shares changing hands. The stock rose 7/16 to 36 7/8.
On the Nasdaq,
Dell
(DELL) - Get Dell Technologies Inc Class C Report
was the most active issue, with 26.7 million shares changing hands. Dell closed up 1 15/16 to 68 1/16.
This afternoon,
American Express
(AXP) - Get American Express Company Report
announced a stock repurchase plan of up to 40 million additional shares over the next two to three years, a continuation of its ongoing share buyback program. American Express closed up 2 1/2 to 83.
Market data above are preliminary. Updated numbers and analysis will follow in the Market Roundup
.
