Last Updated: February 18th, 2009: 4:30 PM ET---The old adage goes, "the market loves certainty," well that wasn't the case today as the major US equity indices hugged the unchanged level for most of the day as investors struggled to find direction even after President Obama unveiled the details of his $75 billion mortgage relief plan. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed just above the unchanged level at 7,556 with only 12 of its 30 components closing in the green. Once again, financials were the industrial's main laggards as Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) traded off 6.7% and 4.9%, respectively. General Motors (NYSE:GM) also turned in another subpar performance, closing 5.5% lower after Tuesday night's news that it and Chrysler would need additional funding to stay afloat as they continue to battle deteriorating demand for their autos. Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) was a leader, closing 3.7% higher. The S&P 500 closed slightly lower, off 0.1% to 788 for the day. Meanwhile the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.2% to 1,468. Only technology and consumer goods were barely able to squeeze out gains for the day, while the utilities sector was the day's worst performer, off 1.4%. President Obama unveiled his $75 billion mortgage relief plan in Arizona, which involved removing certain restrictions on Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) and allowing families to restructure their loans. The second part of the plan involves new incentives for lenders to work with borrowers in order to get credit flowing and to modify subprime mortgages. The third part of the plan involves major steps from the government to keep mortgage rates low for middle class families. Using government funds already granted, Freddie and Fannie will continue to purchase subprime mortgage backed securities. Later in the day, the FOMC released its minutes from the last meeting indicating that they had set a goal for the long-term inflation rate at 2%. In addition, the GDP growth forecast for 2009 was reduced to an expected 0.5% to 1.3% contraction and projections for the unemployment rate was increased to 8.5% to 8.8%.

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