The FOMC passed on this opportunity to raise interest rates. The announcement stated that while the U.S. economy is growing only moderately, the risk from global turmoil has been reduced. Most Fed observers seem to be expecting the next rate hike to come toward the end of the year. The news was taken weakly favorably by the markets with SPX gaining $3 to $2095. RUT rose $3 to $1154. Volatility continued to contract with the VIX dropping to 13.8%. Trading volume spiked up above the 50 dma today with 2.6 billion shares of the S&P 500 trading. Trading was higher by 15% on the NYSE and rose 5% on NASDAQ.

SPX is nearing the "fish or cut bait" stage. November's high at $2110 and the all-time high at $2131 are nearby and support has formed over the past couple of weeks around $2075 to $2080. The price trend seems to have slowed as SPX approached these previous highs. Today's Fed announcement didn't supply the energy to drive the market strongly higher. However, it is true that market reaction to FOMC announcements often take 24 hours to "gel", so we will see what tomorrow brings.