--- title: "Stock Market Today: June 16, 2021" description: Looking to the day ahead, eyes will likely be on the U.S. Federal Reserve monetary policy announcement this afternoon. The U.S. equity futures are a mixed bag, suggesting an uneven start to the trading day. image: https://investor.valueline.com/hubfs/social-suggested-images/iStock_000006488152XSmall-428.jpg --- [![The Value Line Blog](https://investor.valueline.com/hubfs/VL%20Blog%20Images/vl_blog_header.png)](https://investor.valueline.com/blog) [Stock Market Today](https://investor.valueline.com/blog/topic/stock-market-today) # Stock Market Today: June 16, 2021 June 16, 2021 ### **Before The Bell** The stock market started the day modestly lower yesterday, as news broke that retail spending was lower than expected. It marked the first year-over-year drop in spending since February, suggesting that the recovery will likely be uneven. The indices continued to trade at a moderately lower level throughout the day, as inflation fears picked up. Still, this price movement was restrained as traders did not want to make large changes ahead of today's Fed meeting. Overall, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 94 points, the S&P 500 was off nine points, and the NASDAQ was lower by 101 points. Market breadth was slightly negative, as decliners outpaced advancers by a 1.1-to-1.0 ratio. Energy stocks were among the best performers, helped by increased commodity prices. Meanwhile, REITs were among the weakest performers, hurt by interest-rate sentiment. Meantime, U.S. Treasury bond yields were up slightly across the board, as traders have started to price in a higher level of inflation. Though this usually is a positive for financial income, the interest-rate move upward was quite limited. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) rose as traders' demand for option protection increased. The futures started modestly lower and then proceeded to trade sideways throughout the night. By early morning, the futures were a mixed bag, but still none close to the neutral line. This suggests an uneven start to the trading day. Looking ahead, all eyes will be on the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement at 2 P.M. (EDT). This will give insight into how the central bank views inflation and what the Fed’s interest-rate trajectory might be in the years ahead. Traders will be eyeing the long-term outlook to see if there are any changes to the yield curve projections. Meantime, before we get to the Fed’s decision and Chairman Powell’s commentary (expected 30 minutes after the Fed statement is released), market participants will be digesting the latest building permits and housing starts data. This will provide more clues to how the broader economy is recovering. At first blush, the report was solid, with May privately‐owned housing starts coming in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,572,000. Although the figure fell short of expectations, the total was up 3.6% sequentially and 50.3% above the coronavirus-impacted May, 2020 figure. Conversely, today’s earnings calendar is quite empty, as only a few smaller companies are slated to report before the bell and after the close. Overall, we think that the session will be largely driven by the coming Fed announcement. – John E. Seibert III *At the time of this article’s writing, the author did not have positions in any of the companies mentioned.* [![Register now for our free One Stock to Buy webinar](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2532383/5a80130b-f0ce-4bd8-acbd-f077f2232ec5.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2532383/5a80130b-f0ce-4bd8-acbd-f077f2232ec5) ### Popular Posts Search Search Blog ### Topics - [Investing 101 (2)](https://investor.valueline.com/blog/topic/investing-101) - [Market Commentary (37)](https://investor.valueline.com/blog/topic/market-commentary) - [Stock Highlights (390)](https://investor.valueline.com/blog/topic/stock-highlights) - [Stock Market Today (2071)](https://investor.valueline.com/blog/topic/stock-market-today) Copyright 2026 Value Line, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factual material is obtained from sources believed to be reliable and is provided without warranties of any kind. VALUE LINE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS HEREIN OR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES ARISING FROM ANY USE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN. This blog is strictly for subscriber's own, non-commercial, internal use. No part of it may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any printed, electronic or other form, or used for generating or marketing any printed or electronic publication, service or product. Officers, directors, or employees of Value Line, Inc. and its affiliates and subsidiaries, and EULAV Asset Management, may own stocks that are featured in this email. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer to buy or sell securities or to give individual investment advice. Value Line, the Value Line logo, The Most Trusted Name in Investment Research, “Smart research. Smarter investing.”, The Value Line Investment Survey, Timeliness, and Safety are trademarks or registered trademarks of Value Line, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries.