Another day of no economic news ensured maximum focus on the minutes of last month's FOMC meeting. As expected, the minutes contained no surprises and confirmed the expectation of an October end to QE3. Hence the usual 2 PM volatility on a Fed Wednesday was more subdued than usual. The S&P 500 had started the day at its 0.07% intraday low and trended higher to its modest 0.46% closing gain, snapping a two-day decline. We can see how little today's FOMC minutes mattered to the market: The 2 PM 15-minute candle in the chart below was smaller than the opening candle.
The yield on the 10-year note ended the day at 2.57, 1 bp below the previous close. It is now 13 bps above its interim closing low of May 28th.
Here is a chart of the past five sessions. The index is up 6.73% year-to-date and 0.64% below its record close last week.
Daily volume on this Fed Wednesday was unremarkable.
For a longer-term perspective, here is a pair of charts based on daily closes starting with the all-time high prior to the Great Recession.
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