The Fed Gave the Stock Market What It Expected, but Not What Pres…

June
19, 2019

3 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The Federal Open Market Committee did not cut interest rates today as the President has repeatedly demanded, but it did open the door for the possibility in the near future. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that the risks the committee saw to the economy had strengthened the case for “more accommodation,” citing trade developments and concerns about global growth. The market is now expecting a near 100 percent chance of a rate cut next month, based on the prices of Fed Funds futures contracts.

The stock market got a small pop from the Fed’s statement mid-afternoon and held on to the gains. The Dow and S&P 500 indexes were up 0.15 percent and 0.3 percent respectively while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.42 percent. The Entrepreneur Index™ closed the day up 0.56 percent.

Adobe Inc. was the standout on the index today, jumping 5.21 percent after reporting strong financial results. The software maker had quarterly revenue growth of 25 percent over the same period last year and beat earnings estimates by five cents per share. Investors overlooked slightly lower forward guidance than Wall Street estimates. The stock is up 28.7 percent this year.

The rest of the technology sector was mixed. Netflix (1.79 percent) and salesforce.com (2.36 percent) had good gains while social media giants Twitter and Facebook were down 0.98 percent and 0.53 percent respectively. TripAdvisor Inc. (1.9 percent) and Akamai Technologies (1.71 percent) were up nicely while Cognizant Technology fell 1.74 percent.

Related: Investors Optimistic for President Trump and Chinese Leader Xi Jinping’s Meeting Next Week

Gains were relatively modest outside the tech sector. L Brands, down 9.3 percent this year, was up 1.84 percent today. Fellow apparel-makers Under Armour Inc. (-1.14 percent) and Ralph Lauren Corp. (-0.64 percent) were both down on the day. Other gains included medical products maker Boston Scientific Corp. (1.76 percent), business services firm Cintas Corp. (1.58 percent) and whiskey-maker Brown-Forman Corp. (1.46 percent).

Losses on the index were also generally modest. Homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. had the biggest decline, falling 2.16 percent. Homebuilder stocks as a group were down sharply prior to the Fed announcement and ticked up only mildly after it. O’Reilly Automotive Inc. was also down 1.65 percent. Other losses on the index included Capital One Financial and Ford Motor Co., down 0.89 percent and 0.59 percent respectively.

The Entrepreneur Index™ collects the top 60 publicly traded companies founded and run by entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial spirit is a valuable asset for any business, and this index recognizes its importance, no matter how much a company has grown. These inspirational businesses can be tracked in real time on Entrepreneur.com.