Stocks were choppy in the lead-up to today's Federal Reserve policy announcement. While the main indexes made a confident move higher after the central bank cut rates by a half-percentage point, a late-day burst of selling pressure sent them into the red at the close.

One reason for the muted market reaction on a close-to-close basis has to do with how asset prices moved in the days leading up to the Fed decision, said Sonu Varghese, global mac