Stockhouse @ the Bell: Markets mostly positive after FOMC

Today on Stockhouse

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Mickey Fulp writes about a rare earth play he discovered early.

Rob Fannon of The Growth Stock Wire, meanwhile, believes this could be the biggest biotech trade of 2010.

Top Bullboards post: Writing on the Twin Butte Energy (TSX: T.TBE, Stock Forum) Bullboard, mikeyb2 summed up the mood thusly: “Chances are a triple is a long way away. To expect this thing to get to $3.00 is the foreseeable future is unrealistic. Having said that though, I still truly believe their is a lot of up side from here. $1.50 is still a 50% bump from where we are now and $2.00 is a 100% bump from where we are now. I don't know of a lot of places where you'll get that kind of return from the $1.00 we are at now. A major like Suncor? Dream on. A former trust like Crescent Point? Dream on. Any other junior out there? Probably, but which ones? Most are trading closer to their true value. TBE is not. Sooner or later, something will give. They'll either have to sell to release the true value of their company, or they'll get the recognition they may (or may not) deserve. They have been trading decent volumes lately. At least there is movement.....I plan on hanging in there, even though sometimes I feel like putting my nine-iron through the screen when I see them bounce around as much as they do.,....”

Top Bullboard: Allana Resources (TSX: V.AAA, Stock Forum) produced the most posts, while Nuvo Research (TSX: T.NRI, Stock Forum) received the most reads on a day its stock popped 15%.

Top blog: RedMars points to an article that provides some insight into the psychology of online trading in the Notes From a Cyber Trader blog.

For news about small stocks that made big moves in Wednesday’s trading, please read the Stockhouse Canadian Small and Micro-cap Stock Report.

Word on Wall Street

"The Fed is going to keep an easy monetary policy and there was no real indication of that changing anytime soon, that bodes well for stocks -- basically a green light for stocks," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at New York-based brokerage house Avalon Partners Inc., in an interview with Associated Press.

Today In The Markets

Interest rate decision pleases markets

DJIA	9,802.14	+30.23
NASDAQ	2,055.52	-1.80
S&P500	1,046.50	+1.09
S&P/TSX	11,071.20	+45.30
S&P/TSX Venture	1,331.35	+4.60

North American stock markets were positive Wednesday afternoon after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would leave rates at near zero "for an extended period" to encourage a fragile economic recovery.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 73.9 points to 11,099.8 while the Dow Jones industrials gained 82.5 points to 9,854.4 as the Fed also said U.S. economic activity has "continued to pick up" and that the housing market also has grown stronger, a key ingredient to a sustained recovery.

Please click here for the complete U.S. and Canadian market summaries.

After-Hours News

Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFMI, Stock Forum)
The natural foods supermarket operator reported Q4 results after the bell that topped Street expectations and said that it believes the days of declining same store sales are behind it. The Austen, Texas-based firm announced net income jumped to $28.7 million or 20 cents a share, compared with $1.5 million or a penny per share in the comparable quarter a year ago. Sales increase 2.3% to $1.83 billion. Identical store sales – which are a key metric for grocers – slid 2.3%, against last year’s decline of 0.5%.

Sabina gold & Silver (TSX: V.SBB, Stock Forum)
The miner will be delisted from the TSX Venture exchange and begin trading tomorrow on the senior TSX exchange