Today's Market Update with...

Harvey Katz, Value Line's Managing Editor

The stock market turned in a mixed showing yesterday, with the Dow easing a bit and the NASDAQ and S&P 500 Indexes adding a few points. Investors, it would seem, were undecided on Election Day.

Focus, meantime, was on both the economy, which continues to send mixed signals and the Federal Reserve, which will conclude its two-day confab this afternoon. There is uncertainty at the Fed. This uncertainty is not so much about whether the bank will adjust its interest-rate structure, but rather what it will say in making that decision. The Fed is almost certain to keep rates near zero. Investors, though, will be focusing on the language accompanying that rate decision for a hint about just when the lead bank will abandon its accommodative rate structure.

Our sense continues to be that the bank will start to raise rates in the spring or summer of 2010, unless the prospective upturn in business activity unexpectedly fizzles. In that case, rates could stay where they are for much longer.

As for the economy, we will get data on nonmanufacturing activity some 30 minutes into the trading session this morning. As for the stock market, it seems set to start the day to the upside in about an hour from now.