Roller coaster ride in the market continues. It may be good for the day traders, but it creates anxiety for the rest of us. If you are a short-term investor, keep your stop losses tight. Today, the market is moving higher because of positive report from Institute for Supply Management (ISM). It said that its non-manufacturing index moved to 50.6 in October from 50.9 in September. The index was expected to hit 52.0 in October. Initially, I thought the market was going to tank because the index moved down compared to previous month. However, traders like the fact that ISM’s new orders and prices indexes both showed growth from September.

A pair of employment reports also helped stocks. Automatic Data Processing and consultancy Macroeconomic Advisors reported a 203,000 drop in private-sector jobs last month, as expected by economists and smaller than September’s decline. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said that layoffs announced by U.S. companies in October fell to the lowest reading since March 2008. What a relief!

The Federal Reserve’s interest-rate-setting committee will conclude its two-day meeting today by 11:30am PST. No change in rates is expected, but every active trader is going to analyze the comments from Fed. The Fed may not increase the interest rates, but if they say something negative about economy growth, the market will test the new lows. Otherwise, enjoy the higher prices in the stock market for few more days!