Those investors who can tear their eyes away from the new Apple iPhone are directing them to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which has just brought its two-day policy meeting to a close.

Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments leading up to this event - he has highlighted serious concerns about poor jobs growth and the unemployment rate - meant that markets were widely expecting him to announce a new round of quantitative easing (QE) or some sort of stimulus measures in the subsequent press conference.

Those predictions were on the money as the FOMC voted 11-to-1 in favour of QE3 - the third phase of quantitative easing.

The Fed said it will buy $40bn of agency mortgage-backed securities each month, starting this Friday.

The Fed is also sticking with Operation Twist, the programme where it swaps short-dated securities for longer term securities.

As expected, there was no change to the Fed's low interest rates policy.

Jobless claims and inflation figures on the up

Initial jobless claims rose 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 382,000 last week, according to the Labour Department. The consensus estimate was for a smaller rise to 370,000.

"We do not interpret the higher-than-expected outturn in claims as a sign that labor market conditions are weakening since the Labor Department reported that claims were pushed higher partially as a result of Tropical Storm Isaac and the seasonal distortions associated with a shortened holiday work week," said analyst Michael Gapen from Barclays Research.

Meanwhile, the producer price index rose 1.7% in August, the biggest rise in over three years and ahead of the 1.2% increase that was expected, as gasoline and food prices gained more than forecast.

Apple extends gains after iPhone 5 release

Tech giant Apple was on the rise early on after unveiling its newest toy, the iPhone 5. With a four-inch 1136x640 pixel screen, the iPhone 5 is 18% thinner and 20% lighter than the previous iPhone 4S, but lacks near field communications and wireless charging technology available in smartphone offerings from rival companies.

Analysts at Barclays Capital have raised their price target for the stock to $810 from $750 today.

Computer chip titan Intel slipped after Citigroup downgraded its recommendation from 'buy' to 'neutral', while sports apparel group Nike was lower after the same US broker also cut its rating.

Purification solutions provider Pall cheered the market with fiscal fourth quarter earnings that were well ahead of expectations at 86 cents per share. Analysts had been expecting a figure around 77 cents.

Other markets

10-year US Treasuries were little changed after the Fed's big decision, with the yield at 1.75%.

The front month contract for West Texas intermediate crude was up 54 cents at $97.55 a barrel in lunch-time trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

S&P 500 - Risers
Pall Corp. (PLL) $62.63 +7.68%
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $7.63 +3.95%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $52.47 +3.33%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class A (DISCA) $58.11 +2.58%
Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) $88.65 +2.28%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $72.86 +2.05%
Time Warner Inc. (TWX) $43.92 +1.97%
CBRE Group Inc (CBG) $18.67 +1.74%
VF Corp. (VFC) $158.29 +1.72%
Dean Foods Co. (DF) $16.33 +1.65%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $58.17 -4.48%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $82.05 -4.19%
NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) $21.49 -3.80%
Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) $65.91 -2.97%
Legg Mason Inc. (LM) $25.88 -2.78%
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (JCP) $28.25 -2.75%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $5.32 -2.60%
Tyco International Ltd (TYC) $54.76 -2.58%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $98.61 -2.21%
Federated Investors Inc. (FII) $21.20 -2.17%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $52.34 +1.24%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $45.28 +0.87%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $74.64 +0.77%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $44.19 -0.76%
Boeing Co. (BA) $70.55 -0.58%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $17.90 -0.53%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $52.47 +3.33%
Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN) $25.47 +2.45%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $72.86 +2.05%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $109.17 +1.94%
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) $31.41 +1.75%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $98.50 +1.58%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $28.62 +1.56%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $56.59 +1.52%
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $7.53 +1.48%
Dollar Tree Stores Inc. (DLTR) $46.69 +1.35%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $58.17 -4.48%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $82.05 -4.19%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $78.83 -1.80%
Avago Technologies Ltd. (AVGO) $34.68 -1.56%
Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) $6.37 -1.24%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $34.77 -1.22%
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $28.49 -1.21%
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL) $10.14 -1.07%
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $35.70 -1.05%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $42.24 -1.03%


JH

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