Slight Slip

Stocks traded lower today on Wall Street. Cisco, Caterpillar, Du Pont, and McDonald’s stood out among decliners on the Dow. Brands slipped amid a variety of economic news. New-home sales were better than expected in September. The Census Bureau reported that sales rose 5.7%, to an annual pace of 389,000, from a downwardly revised 368,000, in August. Economists expected new-home sales to climb to a lesser rate of 385,000. On another note, Federal Reserve monetary policy comments, released earlier today, failed to impress. The Federal Open Market Committee said it will keep its purchases of mortgage-backed securities unchanged at $40 billion per month, and the target range for the federal funds rate near zero through the middle of 2015.

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