U.S. Stocks Turn Mixed, Fed Did Not Signal QE3

U.S. stocks pared gains after the Federal Reserve released its August Federal Open Markets Committee statement at 2:15 ET Tuesday.

The S&P 500 Index is up 1.61 points, or 0.14 percent, to trade at 1,121.07 at 3:03 p.m. ET. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 91.99 points, or 0.85 percent, to trade at 10,717.86. The NASDAQ Composite rose 0.83 percent.

During this volatile session, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) overtook Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) as the most valuable company in the world.

In the morning, the Dow was up by over 2 percent. The rally was partly due to bargain-hunting after Monday’s brutal selloff and partly in anticipation of the FOMC statement and what it might hint about another "quantitative easing," or QE3.

The FOMC statement released Tuesday acknowledged the deterioration of the economy.

However, it did not hint at QE3. The magic words some market participants looked for was “measures of underlying inflation are currently at levels somewhat below those the Committee judges most consistent, over the longer run, with its mandate to promote maximum employment and price stability,” which was used in September 2010 to signal QE2.

The new statement simply says “the Committee also anticipates that inflation will settle, over coming quarters, at levels at or below those consistent with the Committee's dual mandate.”