U.S. market indexes gained on Wednesday with the Dow Jones, Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq all reaching new highs.
For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 21,640.75 for a gain of 66.02 points or 0.31%. The S&P 500 closed at 2,473.83 for a gain of 13.22 points or 0.54%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 6,385.04 for a gain of 40.74 points or 0.64%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower for the day at 9.79 for a loss of 0.10 points or 1.01%.
Wednesday’s market movers
Positive earnings and a stock price gain from Morgan Stanley (MS, Financial) helped market valuations for the day as second-quarter earnings continue.
Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:
- The Mortgage Bankers Association’s mortgage applications index increased by 6.3% for the week.
- Housing starts increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.215 million from 1.122 million.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led gains:
- DuPont (DD, Financial) 1.61%.
- Boeing (BA, Financial) 1.27%.
- UnitedHealth (UNH, Financial) 1.25%.
- Cisco (CSCO, Financial) 1.24%.
- Disney (DIS, Financial) 1.01%.
- Microsoft (MSFT, Financial) 0.76%.
In the broad market, energy stocks led gains. Technology stocks were also higher with the S&P 500 technology sector gaining 0.51%.
Small-cap stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index closed at 1,441.77 for a gain of 14.16 points or 0.99%. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 871.95 for a gain of 9.98 points or 1.16%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 8,735.20 for a gain of 87.41 points or 1.01%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 9,723.44 for a gain of 97.18 points or 1.01%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,780.45 for a gain of 17.41 points or 0.99%; the S&P 100 Index at 1,089.21 for a gain of 5.26 points or 0.49%; the Russell 3000 Index at 1,466.02 for a gain of 8.78 points or 0.60%; the Russell 1000 Index at 1,371.00 for a gain of 7.77 points or 0.57%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 664.14 for a gain of 4.96 points or 0.75%.
