After the S&P 500 (SPX) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJX) hit record highs in Wednesday’s trading session thanks to news from the Fed, on Thursday only the Dow hit another record high. It closed at 16,179.08, up 11.11 (0.07%).
This closing record represented No. 46 of the year. During the trading day it saw an intraday high of 16,194.72.
The S&P 500 closed in the red at 1,809.60, down 1.05 (0.06%) and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP), followed suit as it closed at 4,058, down 11.93 (0.06%).
It was an ugly day for gold as gold futures their lowest settlement in three-plus years on Thursday.?February gold, the most-active contract, dropped $41.40 (3.4%), to settle at $1,193.60 an ounce. During the trading day, futures prices hit intraday lows under the $1,200 for a first time since June; this also represented the greatest one-day decline since June.
The VIX closed at 14.15, up 0.35 (2.54%). This came after the index fell 15 percent on Wednesday to 13.80, seeing its largest drop in two months.?
On the equity front,?Facebook (FB) fell 2.3% after the company announced an offering of 70 million Class A shares with its founder?Mark Zuckerberg selling 41.4 million shares?valued at approximately $2.3 billion.?
The options market responded by making Facebook options the most actively traded one with 454,063 contracts (62.6% calls, 37.4% puts), according to Trade Alert.