Market Committee: Meeting Days and Paul Hickey

market committee: Indeed, the only positive finish came just this past January, when the Fed unexpectedly pivoted away from its policy of steadily rising rates to move to the sidelines, according to Market Watch. The S&P 500 ended 1.6% higher on Jan. 30. The S&P 500 index SPX, 0.95% has declined on nine of the last 10 final meeting days of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, and those 10 days also happen to coincide with the entire tenure of current FOMC chair Jerome Powell, noted Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group, in a note. Stock-market gains or losses on meeting day probably aren't a terribly useful metric for judging the performance of the Fed, but the preponderance of decision-day declines is attracting attention among investors, particularly given the anticipation surrounding Wednesday's decision. Read 5 things to watch in the pivotal Fed meeting While acknowledging the small sample size relative to Powell's three predecessors Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan Hickey termed the S&P 500's performance on decision days under Powell's reign as abysmal on both an absolute and relative basis, with the S&P 500 averaging a decline of 0.3% versus average gains of between 0.16% under Yellen to 0.53% under Bernanke. The Fed isn't expected to cut, but investors are looking for policy makers to set the stage for an easing as early as July. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.