STOCKS CLOSE MIXED AFTER THE FED HOLDS: Here's what you need to know

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china juggle

REUTERS/Stringer

Girls juggle with straw hats at an acrobatics school in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, November 14, 2013. According to a spokesperson from the school, 32 children, whose parents are low-wage migrant workers in the city, are exempted from tuition fees and other costs. The students of the school receive five-hour acrobatic and dance training during the day, and two-hour literacy courses in the evening.

Happy Fed day!

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The Federal Open Market Committee once again left the benchmark fed funds rate unchanged in a 0.25% to 0.50% range, as was expected.

Stocks were up for most of the afternoon, but then the Dow and the S&P slipped into the close.

Let's head to the scoreboard:

  • Dow: 18,468.68 (-5.07, -0.03%)
  • S&P 500: 2,167.04 (-2.28, -0.11%)
  • Nasdaq: 5,139.81 (+29.76, +0.58%)
  • WTI Crude oil: $42.02 (-2.1%)
  • 10-year Treasury yield: 1.508 (-3.40%)

1. The Fed says there are now fewer reasons to be worried about the US economy. "Near-term risks to the economic outlook have diminished," the Fed's policy statement said on Wednesday. "On balance, payrolls and other labor market indicators point to some increase in labor utilization in recent months."

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2. Apple surged after the company crushed expectations. Apple's stock rose 6.5% on Tuesday after the company reported earnings that were higher than Wall Street's expectations.

3. Facebook soared after the company smashed earnings. Facebook beat expectations on both the top and bottom line for its second quarter earnings, sending the stock rocketing more than 8% after-hours.

4. Trump invited Russian hackers to find and publish Hillary Clinton's emails. "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 [Clinton] emails that are missing," Trump said at a press conference. "I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let's see if that happens. That'll be nice." A Trump spokesman was walking back the comments later in the afternoon.

Durable goods orders plunged by more than expected. Durable goods orders fell 4% in June, way more than economists' expectations of a 1.4% drop. This was the second-straight monthly decline - the steepest in nearly two years - which suggests manufacturers are still struggling to overcome a sales slowdown.

4. Pending home sales rose less than expected. Pending home sales rose 0.2% in June, compared to economists' expectations of a 1.2% rise. Lean housing inventory continued to slow contract signings everywhere except in the Northeast.

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6. Coca Cola's quarterly sales dropped. Coca-Cola Co reported a 5.1% drop in quarterly revenue, citing "difficult external conditions" in many of its emerging and developing markets, including China and Argentina.

Additionally:

Notorious B.I.G.'s "Mo Money Mo Problems" inadvertently explains the Bank of Japan's current dilemma.

There's a big problem with Fed statements.

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If you bought stocks only at the 3 latest market tops, you'd still be up 26%.

"Investors should brace themselves": What Wall Street is saying about Twitter's weak earnings.

Leon Cooperman published an epic 48-page note to investors explaining why everything is fine.

It looks like the biggest takeover in years is in trouble.

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