State index off 1.55 in stagnant market

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 1.55 to 341.98 Wednesday.

“U.S. stocks were essentially unchanged on Wednesday as the [Federal Open Market Committee] opted to keep the Fed funds target rate unchanged,” said John Blackwell, managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.