Wednesday Closing Bell: Markets Surge Higher on Fed Announcement

September 18, 2013: U.S. markets opened mixed Wednesday as investors and traders waited for the afternoon FOMC announcement. When the Fed declined to begin tapering its asset purchases, shares popped and led indexes to finish with solid gains. The DJIA and the S&P 500 indexes both posted new all-time highs following the FOMC announcement.

Asian, European, and Latin American markets closed mostly higher today.

Thursday’s calendar includes a speech by Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto and the following data releases and events (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
• 8:30 a.m. – Current account
• 10:00 a.m. – Existing home sales
• 10:00 a.m. – Philadelphia Fed survey
• 10:00 a.m. – Leading indicators
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
• 1:00 p.m. – Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS) auction
• 4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

Here are the closing bell levels for Wednesday:

• S&P500 1,725.52 (+20.76; +1.22%)
• DJIA 15,676.94 (+147.21; +0.95%)
• NASDAQ 3,783.64 (+37.94; +1.01%)
• 10YR TNOTE 2.704% (+1.25)
• Gold $1,307.60 (-1.80; -0.1%)
• WTI Crude oil $108.07 (+2.65; +2.5%)
• Euro/Dollar: 1.3514 (+0.0153; +1.15%)

Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) topped $1,000 a share briefly today before closing at $995.19.

Big Earnings Movers: Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) is up 9.2% at $52.58 on growth in subscriptions to its cloud-based services<<LINK>>. General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) is up 0.7% at $50.14. Manchester United plc (NYSE: MANU) is up 2.1% at $17.47.

Stocks on the Move: Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is up 7% at $6.71. Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX) is up 9.8% at $20.13, likely on expected demand for gold in light of Fed announcement today. Other precious metals gainers include Endeavour Silver Corp. (NYSE: EXK) up 16.9% at $5.04, Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMY) up 13.9% at $4.11, and Rubicon Minerals Corp. (NYSEMKT: RBY) up 14% at $1.55.

In all, 265 stocks put up new 52-week highs today, while only 29 stocks posted new lows.