US Market Indexes Lower on Wednesday

U.S. market indexes were lower on Wednesday. For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 19941.96 for a loss of -32.66 points or -0.16%. The S&P 500 closed at 2265.18 for a loss of -5.58 points or -0.25%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 5471.43 for a loss of -12.51 points or -0.23%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 11.27 for a loss of -0.18 points or -1.57%.

Wednesday’s market movers

Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:

• The Mortgage Bankers Association’s mortgage applications report showed an increase of 2.5% in mortgage applications and an increase of 3% in refinancing applications.
• Existing home sales increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.610 million.
• The EIA Petroleum Status report showed an increase in oil inventory of 2.3 million barrels.

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led losses:

Merck (MRK, Financial) -1.77%

Pfizer (PFE, Financial) -1.37%

Wal-Mart (WMT, Financial) -0.81%

Goldman Sachs (GS, Financial) -0.68%

Intel (INTC, Financial) -0.62%

In the broad market, real estate led losses with S&P 500 real estate stocks down -1.27%. Technology was also lower with S&P 500 technology stocks down -0.20%.

Small-cap stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index closed at 1375.19 for a loss of -8.76 points or -0.63%. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 848.99 for a loss of -5.68 points or -0.66%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 8071.38 for a loss of -45.24 points or -0.56%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 9769.38 for a loss of -52.62 points or -0.54%.

Other notable indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1679.62 for a loss of -7.41 points or -0.44%; the S&P 100 Index at 1003.30 for a loss of -2.68 points or -0.27%; the Russell 3000 Index at 1347.64 for a loss of -3.87 points or -0.29%; the Russell 1000 Index at 1256.35 for a loss of -3.22 points or -0.26%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 640.62 for a loss of -2.34 points or -0.36%.

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