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Despite the avalanche of data today, markets were focused on the Fed's latest monetary policy decision, which in the end, was disappointing.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,976.13, -32.55, -0.25%

S&P: 1,375.32, -4.00, -0.29% 

Nasdaq: 2,920.21, -19.31, -0.66%
Here's what you need to know.

  • The first major data point out of the U.S. today was the ADP employment report which crushed expectations. ADP non-farm payrolls climbed 163,000 in July, but didn't show a monthly improvement, since this number was below June's revised 172,000.

  • U.S. manufacturing PMI grew at its slowest pace in three years, with Markit Economics' key activity index slowing to 51.4 in July. The employment reading also eased to 52.7 as firms took a more "cautious approach" to hiring.

  • July's ISM manufacturing index declined to 49.8. A sub-index of new orders climbed to 48, but stayed below the contractionary level of 50. This report showed more weakness than the Markit survey that was released earlier in the day.

  • Facebook's stock tanked, falling below $21.00 four days after the social networking site first reported earnings as a public company.

  • Construction spending grew 0.4 percent month-over-month in June. "At that pace, spending climbed to an annualized pace of $842.1 billion," reported Eric Platt. So, housing seems to be a bright spot even as manufacturing is declining.

  • Not long before 10 a.m. technical issues at Knight Capital's market making unit caused tremendous volatility in a select list of stocks trading on the NYSE. Knight Capital's shares got slammed declining as much as 26 percent. The NYSE announced the names of 148 stocks and ETFs that were impacted, and the list included Alcoa, General Motors, and Bank of America. 


  • Motor vehicle sales numbers trickled out through day. Ford's monthly auto sales declined 4 percent in July, against expectations of a 0.8 percent gain. General Motors also missed estimates with sales declining 6.4 percent.

  • The Federal Open Market Committee disappointed markets when it said it would "provide additional accommodation as needed" and did not change its forward guidance for low rates through late 2014. It did however acknowledge that growth had slowed during the first half of the year. The Fed may have included an old Greenspan-era code in its announcement.

  • A little after 3 p.m. it was reported that the NYSE would cancel trades associated with six stocks following the technical glitch this morning. Knight Capital's shares were down 30 percent about 15 minutes before the end of trading. Fox Business Network's Charlie Gasparino reported that Knight Capital could lose up to $300 million from this morning's glitch.

  • Green Mountain Coffee Roasters will report earnings after the bell and analysts polled by Bloomberg expect the firm to report earnings of $0.50 per share, on revenue of $873.3 million.