After Wild Day, Stocks Stand Still

Wall Street was volatile today, with the Dow swinging in a 160-point range as investors combed speeches from Federal Reserve members for rate-cut clues. But the index ended up rising only 14.47 points, to 13,127.85, while the S&P and Nasdaq fell 1.85 and 6.59 respectively, indicating overall uncertainty from traders, The Street.com reports.

“We're probably going to have an indecisive market that is held in captivity until we get that Fed decision next week,” one economist said of the Sept. 18 meeting. For now, traders fixated on speeches by the Philadelphia and San Francisco Fed presidents, who gave mixed signals about a possible rate cut. (More stock market stories.)