The market recovered from bigger losses with the S&P down 0.7%. The FED said economic growth will be modest and made two decisions for a neutral policy : taking money from mortgage securities to buy treasuries and keeping its balance sheet unchanged. This means money will not be drained from the system with the option of a loose monetary policy. The New York Fed balance sheet will be targeted at $2.053T. Interest rates remain unchanged with the belief they are already low and lower rates would not affect mortgages nor the economy.
With one hour to the close,investors found value and/or dividends in large cap pharma and medtech stocks: ABT 51.46 up 1.14%, BDX 72.49 up 0.85%,BMY 26.65 up 0.57%, GILD 36 up 0.64%, GSK 37.43 up 1.6%, LLY 37.69 up 1.98%and PFE 16.51 up 0.58%.
Biotech stocks were mixed with large caps like Amgen and Celgene up and smaller caps down.
Now that the healthcare reform storm has passed, investors are looking for global stocks with modest earnings growth that can do well in a slower economy. These multinationals would also offer a hedge on a weaker dollar.