Stocks Recover From Lows as Fed Gives Wall Street Reality Check

Stocks recovered from the worst losses of the day through to market close after the Federal Reserve released its anecdotal report, the Beige Book, midafternoon. The Fed’s Beige Book gave some relief after reporting that the 12 districts continue to see modest to moderate economic growth. Oil prices were a burden to some states though with central banks of Dallas, Kansas City and Atlanta reporting weakness in the energy sector. Crude oil enjoyed sharp gains on the Fed release, bouncing back from six-year lows hit earlier this week. JPMorgan lagged the market after profits were hit by a $990 million legal charge in the fourth quarter.