28Oct2015 Market Close: Fed's Keep Rates Unchanged, But May Hike Rate In December, Markets Close Higher After Very Volatile Movements

Written by Gary

Fed’s keep rates unchanged, but it suggested the possibility of a rate hike in December. The markets then ‘crashed’ under heavy selling pressure and then climbed to new highs before the close. WTI oil remains unchanged at its new session high (~46) and the US dollar also exploded to new session highs ~97.87) where it closed for the day. DOW up 191, SP500 up 1.2% and the Nasdaq up 1.2%.

Todays S&P 500 Chart

The Market in Perspective

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Financial stocks lift Wall Street after Fed statement (Reuters) – U.S. stocks rebounded in volatile afternoon trading after initially selling off following the Federal Reserve’s statement that suggested a December rate hike was still on the table.
	U.S. Fed puts December rate hike firmly on the agenda WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and in a direct reference to its next policy meeting put a December rate hike firmly in play.
	Northrop third-quarter results top estimates, 2015 profit outlook raised WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hours after winning a multibillion-dollar contract to build a new U.S. bomber, Northrop Grumman Corp reported higher-than-expected quarterly revenue and earnings on Wednesday, and increased its profit outlook for the full year.
	Exclusive: U.S. trade czar says Britain would lose on trade outside the EU WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The United States is not keen on pursuing a separate free trade deal with Britain if it leaves the European Union, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Wednesday, the first public comments from a senior U.S. official on the matter.
	Apple defies China slowdown fears with strong iPhone sales Apple Inc reported blockbuster iPhone sales in China, suggesting that worries about the company’s growth trajectory in the world’s second-largest economy are overdone.
	Short sellers double down on Weight Watchers after Oprah invests SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Bets against Weight Watchers International appear to have spiked after an investment by media mogul Oprah Winfrey led the troubled diet brand’s shares to double.
	Icahn takes stake in AIG, calls for breakup (Reuters) – Activist investor Carl Icahn said he owns a “large stake” in American International Group Inc and urged the insurer to spin off its life and mortgage units into public companies to avoid being tagged as a systemically important financial institution.
	Twitter’s results show its turnaround Moment still far off (Reuters) – Twitter Inc may be counting on Moments to drive growth, but the moment for celebrating a turnaround still looks far off.
	GM offering UAW bigger bonus, profit sharing than FCA: Bloomberg (Reuters) – General Motors Co’s tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers union offers hourly employees a signing bonus of as much as $8,000 and better profit-sharing than Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV , Bloomberg reported.
	Europe’s Largest Bank Just Scrapped Its Dividend Make no mistake, the writing has been on the wall for months. Deutsche Bank is going through a painful restructuring that began with the ouster of co-CEOs Anshu Jain and JÃ¼rgen Fitschen and culminated in new CEO John Cryanâ€™s move to eliminate a quarter of the workforce, or some 23,000 people. The bank then proceeded to announce a shakeup in the corporate structure before moving to cut the I-bank bonus pool by some $566 million. Well donâ€™t look now, but just moments ago, Europeâ€™s biggest bank eliminated the dividend. DEUTSCHE BANK TO ELIMINATE 2015, 2016 DIVIDENDS TO MEET TARGETS Here’s the press release: From DB The Management Board of Deutsche Bank today approved the implementation of the Bank’s strategic plan, known as â€œStrategy 2020â€. The plan includes the following financial targets: CET 1 ratio: at least 12.5% from the end of 2018 Leverage ratio: at least 4.5% at the end of 2018 and at least 5.0% at the end of 2020 Return on Tangible Equity (RoTE): greater than 10% by 2018 Adjusted Costs (total noninterest expenses excluding restructuring and severance, litigation, impairm …
	The Full Details Of How Goldman Criminally Obtained Confidential Information Form The New York Fed Two days ago we reported that the saga of Rohit Bansal, Goldman’s “leaker” at the Fed is coming to a close with the announcement of a criminal case filed against Goldman’s deep throat who had previously spent 7 years at the NY Fed, and was about to spend some time in prison, and who had been providing Goldman with confidential information sourced from his contact at the NY Fed for months, as a result of which Goldman would be charged a penalty. Moments ago the NY DFS announced that the best connected hedge fund in the world would pay $50 million to the New York State Department of Financial Services and “accept a three-year voluntary abstention from accepting new consulting engagements that require the Department to authorize the disclosure of confidential information under New York Banking Law” Goldman Sachs would also admit that a Goldman employee engaged in the criminal theft of Department confidential supervisory information; Goldman Sachs management failed to effectively supervise its employee to prevent this theft from occurring; and Goldman failed to implement and maintain adequate policies and procedures relating to post-employment restrictions for former government employees. Below are the unbelievable, details of just how Goldman was getting material information from the NY Fed, from the FDS: Violation of Post-employment Restrictions On July 21, 2014, an individual began work at Goldman, Sachs & Co. as an Associate in the Financial Institutions Group (“FIG”) of the Investment Banking Division (“IBD”). The Associate reported to a Managing Director and a Partner at Goldman. Prior to his employment at Goldman, from approximately August 2007 to March 2014, the Associate was a bank examiner at the …
	How Long Can OPEC Hold Out? Submitted by Gaurav Agnihotri via OilPrice.com, As oil prices are now hovering around $45 per barrel, the entire oil and gas industry is looking forward to the next OPEC meeting, due to be held on December 4 this year in Vienna. On October 14, non- OPEC member Mexico confirmed its participation in a technical meeting organized by the cartel on October 21 in Vienna to which seven other non-OPEC members were also invited. “We are going with a technical delegation to receive information and exchange it with other producers. But Mexico will not take part in any reduction in production volume,” said Mexico’s Energy Minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell. The meeting was held last Wednesday and was attended by representatives of five countries: Russia, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Colombia and Mexico. The main agenda of the meeting was to exchange different market views and create a common strategy in response to the current market conditions and low oil prices. What exactly happened at the meeting? Venezuela has been the most vocal OPEC member when it comes to the issue of raising oil prices by altering the cartel’s production levels. During the technical meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC members, Venezuela proposed that OPEC must resume its policy adopted in 1980s of fixing the oil price. It suggested a possible ceiling price of $88 per barrel which would naturally require OPEC to reduce its current production levels. In addition, Venezuela also proposed another technical meeting of this kind to be held …
	Stocks Rebound After Fed Leaves Rates Near Zero U.S. stocks rebounded to new session highs, led by financial and energy stocks, after the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates near zero.
	Oil Prices Rally 6% U.S. crude prices surged Wednesday to their largest gain in nearly two months, the latest in a series of rallies fueled by bearish traders rushing for the exits, this time sparked by news of a U.S. export deal with Mexico.
	Fed Keeps Year-End Rate Hike on Table Federal Reserve officials Wednesday kept short-term interest rates unchanged near zero, but opened the door more explicitly than they have before to raising rates at a final 2015 meeting in December.
	November 2015 Economic Forecast: Still Shows Weak Growth But Improved Nonetheless Written by Steven Hansen Econintersect’s Economic Index marginally – but remains in the low range of index values seen since the end of the Great Recession. The most tracked sectors of the economy generally showed some growth. Still our economic index remains in a long term decline since late 2014.
	28 October 2015 FOMC Meeting Statement: Federal Funds Rate Still Unchanged Econintersect: The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) – the board of directors of the Federal Reserve did not raise the Federal Funds Rate. Their committee statement implied that slower employment gains was the primary reason for delaying increasing the Federal Funds Rate. The decision not to raise rates was not unanimous. They stated …. …. In determining whether it will be appropriate to raise the target range at its next meeting, the Committee will assess progress–both realized and expected–toward its objectives of maximum employment and 2 percent inflation.
	Bond Report: Treasury yields spike after Fed hints at December rate hike Short-term Treasury yields spiked Wednesday, posting their largest single-day jump since early February, after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged but hinted at a potential rate hike at its December meeting.
	Capitol Report: New crowdfunding rules set to give retail investors access to private firms Itâ€™s the last piece of the SECâ€™s Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act rulemaking, intended to make capital fundraising easier and cheaper for small business,
	Futures Movers: Nymex crude oil logs best gain in 3 months Oil futures topped $45 a barrel on Wednesday, posting its best gain in about three months as futures rebounded from a two-month low.