Stock Market Today: Stocks Close Flat With Fed Meeting in Focus

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published 18 September 2023

It was a choppy start to the week as investors looked ahead to Wednesday afternoon's policy announcement from the Federal Reserve.

Focus is also on the latest slate of initial public offerings (IPOs) about to hit the market, especially in the wake of last week's blockbuster IPO from chipmaker Arm Holdings (ARM, -4.5%).

The Fed kicks off their two-day policy meeting tomorrow, wrapping up Wednesday afternoon. Even after last week's mixed inflation data, most are expecting the central bank to keep interest rates unchanged this time around. Investor attention is now shifting to the Fed's potential plans for its two remaining meetings of 2023, where expectations aren't as clear cut.

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This meeting "is key to understanding the Fed's future actions," says Brian Rehling, head of Global Fixed Income Strategy at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute. In particular, Rehling will be watching the central bank's summary of economic projections, also known as the "dot plots," which summarize what each member expects monetary policy to be going forward.

"While the Fed is unlikely to commit to any action or non-action at future meetings, we anticipate that the summary of economic projections will suggest that another rate hike is possible before the end of the year," Rehling says.

Instacart, Klaviyo IPOs on deck

Meanwhile, following a red-hot IPO last Thursday for chipmaker Arm, all eyes are on this week's upcoming IPOs: Instacart and Klaviyo.

Grocery-delivery firm Instacart is expected to start trading tomorrow under the ticker "CART" on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Last Friday, the company priced its offering between $28 and $30 per share, which gives it a roughly $10 billion valuation.

David Trainer, CEO of New Constructs, a research firm powered by artificial intelligence, thinks investors should pass on the Instacart IPO. "The stock's valuation implies the company will grow revenue by 24% each year for the next decade, a feat that is unlikely," Trainer says. "It's okay for investors to be excited about the thawing IPO market, but that doesn't mean they need to invest in every company that Wall Street offers to the public."

Also in focus is Klaviyo, with the marketing automation company on Monday priced its IPO in the $27 to $29 per-share range. This works out to a valuation of about $9 billion. It will start trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "KVYO."

Nikola stock soars on C-suite news

In non-IPO news, Nikola (NKLA) stock soared 33.6% today after the electric vehicle maker said it tapped Mary Chan as its new chief operating officer. Chan previously worked as the managing director at VectoIQ Acquisition Corp, the special acquisition company (SPAC) Nikola merged with, and will start next month.

As for the major indexes, they all three finished marginally higher, with the Nasdaq Composite closing at 13,710, the S&P 500 landing at 4,453, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending at 36,624.

With over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is an investing editor and options expert at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021 after 10 years of working as an investing writer and columnist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. In her previous role, Karee focused primarily on options trading, as well as technical, fundamental and sentiment analysis.