Broad U.S. and Global equity markets are up slightly after reaching all-time highs intra-day last week. Next week’s Fed meeting on January 28-29 will be the last for current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke prior to handing over the reins to Vice Chair Janet Yellen. It has been widely expected that the tapering will continue next week dropping the bond buying from the current $75B per month to $65B. In addition, rates are expected to remain low at the very least until after Ben is no longer running the Fed.

“Interest rates are expected to remain low until after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s departure,” said David Krein, Managing Director of NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes. “Tapering should continue to drop to $65B per month at next week’s meeting, and we are expecting that number to progressively drop through the year after Vice Chair Janet Yellen has taken over.”

INDEX MOVES THIS WEEK

• NASDAQ BIOTECHNOLOGY (NBI) has continued its transcendence in the first few weeks of 2014 on the heels of the Index’s best year in the past decade. The Index has returned 2.33% as of noon on Wednesday from the most recent Friday close.
• PHLX OIL SERVICE SECTOR (OSX) was flat with a relative increase of 0.27%. The price of crude oil was $96.66 per barrel.
• NASDAQ OMX CEA SMARTPHONE (QFON) is up 1.39% following the continued flurry of price-conscious moves by providers to steal customers from one another.

INDEX TO WATCH

• Gold miners are coming back into favor in the first few weeks of 2014 after a rough 2013. Look for activity in the space by tracking the PHLX GOLD/SILVER SECTOR (XAU), which is up 11% YTD following a -48% return in 2013.