FED Day

Less than an hour before the FOMC announcement and the markets are calm and relatively flat.  The NASDAQ is down slightly and the S&P500 is down by an even smaller amount.

The expectation is that there will be no change in rates.

The tea leaves, however, will be examined closely.

UPDATE:

As expected, the FOMC didn't move interest rates.  Yellen hasn't begun speaking as this is posted, but the notes that were released with the rate announcement showed the FED seeing a reduced expectation of inflation and a higher projection for GDP.  Importantly, they confirmed that they are going forward with the plan to reduce the balance sheet.  Stocks have sold off mildly as traders await Janet Yellen's verbiage.  So far nothing surprising here.

UPDATE 2:

As Federal Reserve Chair Yellen speaks the markets have gradually improved.  Of the ETFs we use, HDV and IVV have recovered better than QQQ.  An innovation ETF, FFTY, is off over 1% so traders seem to be favoring large blue chips and dividend payers over tech stocks in the early going post-FOMC announcement.