The FOMC met yesterday and today and issued their announcement this afternoon. They opted to leave interest rates "as is" and cited concerns about a global economic slowdown as well as continuing low inflation. Four committee members predicted that there will be no interest rate hike this year. The sentence in the announcement on "global slowdown" surprised analysts, who felt the FOMC should only be looking at the U.S. economy. However, our economy is clearly much more intertwined with other economies in the world than it used to be; in that sense, I found the squabble on CNBC on this point a little silly. It was also one more example of the decline in common respect and manners. Is it no longer considered polite to allow someone to express their idea without another person interrupting and speaking over them? The greater human intellect cannot grow when the loudest and rudest person is allowed to dominate the discussion.

Markets have been trading higher this week leading up to the announcement, but declined immediately after the announcement this afternoon. Then the markets spurted higher, only to trade off in the last hour to close at losses on the day. SPX closed down $5 at $1990. But RUT gained $5 to close at $1181. RUT had traded higher than SPX earlier in the day, so the pullback going into the close left RUT with a net gain on the day. Volatility chopped around quite a bit today, but closed about two tenths of a point lower at 21.1%.

Initial unemployment claims came in 11k lower at 264k and continuing claims declined 26k to 2.24 million. Housing starts for August dropped to an annualized rate of 1126k from July's 1161k. However, building permits rose 40k in August to 1170k. The Philadelphia Fed survey declined markedly for September, down to -6.0 from August's +8.3.

The lingering question that seems to be on everyone's mind is whether the low we hit August 25th is the end of the correction or whether it will turn and fall further yet. The price chart pattern on the indexes has been trending pretty steadily higher. The close today on SPX is right at the high hit a few days after the crash. If SPX closes above that $1990 mark a couple of times, I would feel more confident that the storm was behind us. I think the markets are bit confused about the Fed message today. It may take a few days to see a resulting trend establish itself.