Stocks Close Lower as Federal Reserve Keeps Rates Unchanged

The stock market slid on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve paused rate cuts, leaving interest rates unchanged in its first policy decision of the year.

Overall, S&P 500 fell 0.5% to 6,039, while NASDAQ decreased 0.5% to 19,632.

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Chart of the Day

Here is the one-year chart of Datadog (DDOG) as of December 30, 2024, when the stock was at $144.

Datadog continues to grow revenue nicely, but profit growth has screeched to a halt. Last quarter, the company delivered revenue growth of 26%, but profits increased just 2%. During the past seven quarters, profits in Earnings Per Share (EPS) have been $0.28, $0.36, $0.45, $0.55, $0.44, $0.43 and most recently $0.46. Notice there was a nice ramp from $0.28 to $0.55, and since then profits have been around $0.45 a share.

Looking forward, profits are expected to be $0.44 and $0.46 in the next two quarters, so analysts expect this flat trend to continue. In addition, the stock has a lofty P/E of 71. So DDOG might hang around this price through 2025.

DDOG was sold from our Growth Portfolio last year.

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