Day Traders Diary

9/18/23

The major averages closed virtually unchanged after down day on Friday and a down week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3 points. The S&P 500 rose 3 points while the Nasdaq rose a point.  

Not much news to move the markets ahead of the Federal Reserve's next policy decision on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude prices hit their highest levels since November on Monday. Up nearly 30% so far in the third quarter, WTI is on pace to see its biggest price gain since the first quarter of 2022. The rise in prices helped the energy sector outperform, advancing one percent.

Regarding the Fed decision, traders are assigning a 99% chance that the Fed will keep rates unchanged on Wednesday and just a 31% probability of a hike in November, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, which gauges pricing in the fed funds futures market.

Elsewhere in the markets, the automaker, Ford, GM and Stellantis were lower as the United Auto Workers strike continues. In the tech space, Apple rose 1.69% thanks to positive comments from both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.