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ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.barrons.com/articles/dow-gains-11-points-as-market-catches-its-breath-1541715264\nDow Gains 11 Points as Market Catches Its Breath\nEvie Liu\nNov. 8, 2018 5:14 pm ET\nMichael Haddad\nHugging the Break-Even Line. The market closed with mixed results on Thursday, but all three major indexes stayed close to the break-even line. Oil prices fell back into a bear market, dragging down energy stocks, which were the worst performers in the S&P 500 today. Qualcomm and Roku tumbled after reporting gloomy earnings outlooks. In today’s After the Bell, we...\n...decipher the small language changes in the Fed statement;\n...look at how the housing sector is feeling the pinch of rate hikes;\n...and ponder why the Fed ignored the October stock selloff.\nA Tepid Reaction to the Fed\nAs expected, the Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged at a range of 2.0% to 2.25% at Thursday’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting, suggesting the central bank will remain on the rate-normalizing path it’s currently on. The market, unsurprisingly, didn’t react much to the news.\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 10.92 points, or 0.04%, to 26,191.22, while the S&P 500 slipped 9.53 points, or 0.3%, to 2804.36, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 39.87 points, or 0.5%, to close at 7530.89.\nDespite the overall nonevent, there were some small but notable language changes in the Fed’s statement, including mentions of strong growth in household spending and weakening fixed investment among businesses.\nAlthough minor, the acknowledgment of a changing economy under tightened financial conditions is an encouraging sign that the Fed is diligently monitoring and possibly adjusting its thinking on its policy path, according to Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of global fixed income at BlackRock .\n“We think the Fed would do well to pause and assess the evolving economic conditions and inflation-creating influences, so as to evaluate how much policy hikes would further injure many parts of the economy.” writes Rieder in a note after Thursday’s FOMC meeting.\nCharlie Ripley of Allianz Investment Management says the Fed’s vagueness will give FOMC officials more flexibility in a changing market environment, but “it feels as if we are getting close to a neutral policy stance,” he writes on Thursday.\nWhile sectors like technology, health care, and education won’t be affected much by modest changes in interest rates, some rate-sensitive sectors are starting to feel the pinch. In the housing market, for example, the average mortgage rate has increased from roughly 3.8% to nearly 5% over the past year, the highest level in seven years. Home-price growth and existing home sales have decelerated, and mortgage applications have dropped.\nShould financial conditions continue to tighten, notes Rieder, the weakness might spread to other rate-sensitive sectors like autos and small businesses.\nAlthough hiring and wage gains continue to rise, inflation data remained constrained, Rieder writes. Consumers are probably more concerned about their wealth in the future and less so about spending today, he adds. “The fact is that as more and more consumers see wage acceleration as a means to bolster savings and a war chest for future college, or retirement, costs, consumption of goods stays solid, but without any accompanying price pressure,” he explains.\nInterestingly, the FOMC statement didn’t mention the stock market’s October selloff, implying that Fed officials were largely shrugging it off. Nevertheless, tightening financial conditions are generally headwinds for stock prices. We’ll have to wait for the minutes of the FOMC meeting, as well as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s Nov. 14 speech, for more information.\nWrite to Evie Liu at evie.liu@barrons.com\nHugging the Break-Even Line."