Stock market news live updates: Stocks drift higher as markets await Fed decision

Market Trading EssentialsSeptember 16, 2020

4 minutes read

Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) September monetary policy statement and remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Each is set to provide further insight into central bankers’ assessments of economic activity during the ongoing pandemic.

Less than a month ago, Fed officials suggested at their annual economic symposium that their new policy framework would allow them to avoid preemptively raising interest rates to stave off higher inflation.

“Chair Powell will emphasize the key message from the Fed’s new strategy; they’re pursuing growth,” Ian Shepherdson, chief economist for Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a note Tuesday.

“It’s not clear if the first FOMC meeting since the release of the Fed’s new Monetary Policy Strategy will bring any real shift in policy, though we think it unlikely that policymakers will seek immediately to add weight to their forward interest rate guidance,” Shepherdson added. “The minutes of the July 28-to-29 FOMC meeting make it clear that outcome-based guidance has some support within the Committee, but it appears not to be overwhelming; only ‘a number’ of participants—not ‘many’ or ‘most—favor the idea.”

“If the Fed doesn’t use this meeting to beef up its forward guidance, markets’ focus will be on the wording of the statement, which we expect will acknowledge the slowing momentum evident in much of the recent data, both official and unofficial,” he said.

Powell and other FOMC members have repeatedly underscored the importance of fiscal policy in tandem with monetary policy as being essential to the economic recovery.” data-reactid=”25″>Fed Chair Powell’s remarks will also likely include another nudge for congressional lawmakers to pass more legislation targeted directly at helping Main Street businesses and households. Both Powell and other FOMC members have repeatedly underscored the importance of fiscal policy in tandem with monetary policy as being essential to the economic recovery.

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10:13 a.m. ET: Kodak shares surge as much as 83% after independent review finds company’s actions didn’t violate the law amid US government loan announcement

released a report showing its options grant to its CEO and other events that came amid an announcement that the company was to receive a $765 million loan from the US government to manufacture Covid-19 pharmaceutical materials did not violate the law.” data-reactid=”30″>Shares of Eastman Kodak (KODK) surged as much as 83% to $11.40 per share on Wednesday before paring some gains, after the company released a report showing its options grant to its CEO and other events that came amid an announcement that the company was to receive a $765 million loan from the US government to manufacture Covid-19 pharmaceutical materials did not violate the law.

Kodak’s Board retained the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP to conduct the independent investigation and deliver the report. The report did say the firm found governance issues around the announcement of the federal loan, but that none of these violated the law. It included recommendations to update Kodak’s governance and disclosures, like amending the terms of CEO Jim Continenza’s share grants.

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9:31 a.m. ET: Stocks open higher

Here were the main moves in markets as of 9:31 a.m. ET:

S&P 500 (^GSPC): +11.1 points (+0.33%) to 3,412.3
Dow (^DJI): +63.59 points (+0.23%) to 28,059.19
Nasdaq (^IXIC): +34.33 points (+0.31%) to 11,227.00
Crude (CL=F): +$1.06 (+2.77%) to $39.34 a barrel
Gold (GC=F): +$15.70 (+0.80%) to $1,981.90 per ounce
10-year Treasury (^TNX): -1.6 bps to yield 0.663%

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8:30 a.m. ET: Retail sales rise less than expected in August, decelerating for a fourth straight month

US retail sales rose 0.6% month-on-month in August, according to the Commerce Department’s reported Wednesday. This followed a 0.9% increase in July, which had been downwardly revised from the 1.2% gain previously reported. Consensus economists had been looking for a 1.0% rise in retail sales.

While retail sales rose for a fourth straight month in August, the margin of increase has slowed considerably from the record 18.3% jump in May. August’s report marks the first since the expiration of the $600 in enhanced federal unemployment benefits.

The total value of retail sales held above pre-pandemic levels in August, after first breaching that threshold in July. Retail sales were 2.6% above August 2019 levels last month.

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