U.S. market indexes were lower on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 24,758.12 for a loss of -248.91 points or -1.00%. The S&P 500 Index closed at 2,749.48 for a loss of -15.83 points or -0.57%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 7,496.81 for a loss of -14.20 points or -0.19%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 17.17 for a gain of 0.82 points or 5.02%.
Wednesday’s market movers
U.S. market indexes reported another day of losses following political leadership changes and uncertainty over new trade policies. Sectors leading losses for the day included materials, financials and industrials.
Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:
- The Mortgage Bankers Association’s mortgage applications index increased by 0.9% for the week.
- The Producer Price Index increased 0.2% for the month and 2.8% for the year.
- Retail sales decreased -0.1% in February.
- Business inventories increased 0.6% in January.
- The EIA Petroleum Status report showed an increase of 5 million barrels of oil for the week.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led losses:
- Boeing (BA, Financial) -2.48%
- Goldman Sachs (GS, Financial) -1.53%
- 3M (MMM, Financial) -1.38%
- Exxon (XOM, Financial) -1.25%
- Chevron (CVX, Financial) -1.14%
- JPMorgan (JPM, Financial) -1.12%
Small-cap stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,584.31 for a loss of -7.74 points or -0.49%. The S&P 600 closed at 965.18 for a loss of -5.29 points or -0.55%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 9,872.61 for a loss of -39.34 points or -0.40%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 10,046.12 for a loss of -70.54 points or -0.70%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,929.28 for a loss of -11.19 points or -0.58%; the S&P 100 at 1,211.02 for a loss of -7.29 points or -0.60%; the Russell 3000 at 1,628.19 for a loss of -9.00 points or -0.55%; the Russell 1000 at 1,523.97 for a loss of -8.51 points or -0.56%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 689.20 for a loss of -3.91 points or -0.56%.
