Looking To Thursday: All About the Fed

September 12, 2012

by Don Moenning

Quick Recap of Wednesday’s Session:

Stocks finished slightly higher on Wednesday in another choppy session of trading. Major indices started the day gaining following the German high court ruling that the Eurozone bailout fund (ESM) was constitutional. However, stocks were met with heavy selling pressure throughout most of the day as traders hold their breath for Thursday’s FOMC rate decision tomorrow afternoon. Stocks managed to rally into the close to finish higher than their intraday lows, though well off of intraday highs.

S&P 500 +0.21%, NASDAQ +0.32%, DJIA +0.07%, Midcaps +0.34%.

Looking Ahead to Thursday:

Overnight we get CPI from Italy and Ireland.

Before the bell here in the U.S. is Weekly Jobless Claims and PPI.

Shortly after the open is the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index at 9:45am EST, and the FOMC rate decision at 12:30pm EST.

One coin toss down and one more to go tomorrow. Wednesday was all about the German court ruling on the ESM, and Thursday is going to be all about the Fed and any additional easing the central bank might announce. Expectations are high for a QE3 announcement, though lack of such an announcement might provide the bears with some short-term ammunition. Whatever Bernanke & Co decide to do, expect some volatility heading into tomorrow.

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State of the Markets

Looking To Thursday: All About the Fed