The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell due to ongoing election jitters and a large slump in oil prices. Investors are increasingly concerned by reports that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is losing her support in the polls. With so much uncertainty ahead of the election, gold prices are pushing higher. Gold prices rallied 0.8% and are hovering back above the $1,300 level.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) – commonly referred to as the markets’ fear gauge – added 5.5% to 19.6.
After the bell, keep an eye on social media giant Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB). Mark Zuckerberg’s firm will report quarterly earnings, and analysts expect a very positive outcome. Wall Street expects an EPS of $0.97 on top of $6.92 billion in revenue. Analysts expect a 70% surge in profitability thanks booming advertising revenue.
Let’s look at the final numbers on Wednesday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Dow Jones: 17,959.64; -77.46; -0.43%
S&P 500: 2,097.94; -13.78; -0.65%
Nasdaq: 5,105.57; -48.01; -0.93%
Now, here’s a look at today’s most important market events and stocks, plus a preview of Thursday’s economic calendar.
DJIA Today: Markets Slide After Fed Holds Rates in Place; Oil Prices Slide
The Dow Jones dipped another 77 points as investors eyed the latest report from the Federal Reserve on interest rates and the upcoming presidential election. Investors also weighed a weak jobs report issued this morning by Automatic Data Processing (ADP). In October, the private sector added 147,000 positions in October, far short of the 165,000 expected by economists.
The Federal Reserve completed its meeting on monetary policy and, once again, the Fed Open Market Committee chose not to raise interest rates. In a statement, the FOMC said that the case for a rate hike is getting stronger.
“The committee judges that the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has continued to strengthen but decided, for the time being, to wait for some further evidence of continued progress toward its objectives,” the FOMC said.
