MIDDAY LUNCH

Dow 11033.10  +41.11, Nasdaq 2469.16  -2.31, S&P 1190.06  +6.35 

Trading remains choppy today ahead of the FOMC rate decision due out today at 2:15pm EST.  Most economists believe that the Fed will leave rates unchanged but they will look very closely at their policy statement for clues about future actions.

S&P lowered the debt rating on Spain to AA and said its outlook is negative.  This comes on the heels of Greece’s debt being downgraded to junk and Portugal’s debt being lowered to A-.  This has lead to strength in the dollar and continued weakness in the Euro.

It should be noted that US based multinational corporations that receive significant sales from EU countries could have their earnings affected by the weak Euro.

In Earnings news today Medco Health Solutions (MHS) 60.59 -2.43, -3.86% reported earnings of $0.73 beating estimates by +$0.01 and Silicon Labs (SLAB) 49.75 -0.96, -1.89% reported earnings of $0.62, beating estimates by +$0.07.