Markets mixed as Fed leaves rates unchanged

Markets were mixed on Thursday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3 percent while the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.2 percent. Earlier in Asia, the NIkkei 225 surged 1.8 percent but the Shanghai Composite fell 0.2 percent.

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at its monetary policy meeting on Thursday.

Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management, called the Fed meeting a “non-event”.

Meanwhile, Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading, said that the Wednesday rally “has the hallmarks of bear-market rally­­­ — a strong move on light volume thanks to a hollow catalyst”. “Other market headwinds will be reasserting themselves soon enough,” he said.

William Watts at MarketWatch suggested that the “smart money” is not buying into the rally in November.

Watts cited analyst Brian Reynolds of Canaccord Genuity as saying that the so-called smart index, which compares stock-market flows in the first half-hour of trade versus flows in the last half-hour, remains weak and indicates “a retest of the recent lows before stock prices fully regain their uptrend”.