The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 33,446.26 on Wednesday with a gain of 16.02 points or 0.05%. The S&P 500 closed at 4,079.95 for a gain of 6.01 points or 0.15%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 13,688.84 for a loss of 9.54 points or -0.07%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 17.16 for a loss of 0.96 points or -5.30%.
Wednesday's Market Movers
The major U.S. indexes ended mostly flat Wednesday. Investors were watching the Fed's meeting minutes release for insight on economists' outlook. The release suggested that the Fed will need to see more than a month or two of employment gains for a change in positioning.
The Federal Open Market Committee continues to hold on to dovish plans. The minutes echoed the most current projections released with its last meeting, which showed the federal funds rate likely to be unchanged until 2023, despite increases in employment, gross domestic product and inflation expectations. The minutes reiterated that the Fed's likely first moves for a positioning change will be to begin decreasing its asset purchases.
In other news:
- The MBA Mortgage Applications Index decreased -5.1% following a decrease of -2.2%. The MBA's average 30-year mortgage rate increased to 3.36% from 3.33%.
- The February balance of trade report showed a deficit of -$71.1 billion. Exports were $187.3 billion and imports were $258.3 billion.
- Crude oil inventory decreased by -3.5 million barrels, according to the EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
- Consumer credit outstanding increased by $27.58 billion in February following an increase of $0.09 billion.
Across the board:
- AstraZeneca (AZN, Financial) -1.63%
- Facebook (FB, Financial) +2.23%
- Nvidia (NVDA, Financial) +2.03%
- Amazon (AMZN, Financial) +1.72%
- Alphabet (GOOGL, Financial) +1.35%
- Apple (AAPL, Financial) +1.34%
- Intel (INTC, Financial) +1.05%
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 2,223.05 for a loss of 36.10 points or -1.60%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,325.31 for a loss of 18.62 points or -1.39%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 14,728.42 for a loss of 257.07 points or -1.72%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 10,971.76 for a loss of 73.18 points or -0.66%.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,647.92 for a loss of 18.74 points or -0.70%; the S&P 100 at 1,857.72 for a gain of 7.62 points or 0.41%; the Nasdaq 100 at 13,616.70 for a gain of 38.24 points or 0.28%; the Russell 3000 at 2,441.88 for a loss of 1.30 points or -0.053%; the Russell 1000 at 2,297.68 for a gain of 1.40 points or 0.061%; the Wilshire 5000 at 42,671.19 for a loss of 4.04 points or -0.0095%; and the Dow Jones US Select Dividend Index at 829.28 for a gain of 0.40 points or 0.048%.
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