The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 26,067.28 on Wednesday with a gain of 177.10 points or 0.68%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,169.94 for a gain of 24.62 points or 0.78%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 10,492.50 for a gain of 148.61 points or 1.44%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 28.11 for a loss of 1.32 points or -4.49%.
Wednesday’s market movers
U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday. Recovery buying helped the day’s gains. Investors continued to digest both good and bad coronavirus news headlines.
A bullish stock market editorial in the China Securities Journal earlier in the week continued to spur motivation for buying in China. The Shanghai Composite was up nearly 2% on Wednesday, and U.S. investors followed the wave.
Coronavirus cases reached a new daily record of 60,000. Florida and Texas appear to be two of the largest trouble spots. Across the country, the number of total reported cases moved above 3 million.
Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:
- The MBA Mortgage Applications Index increased 2.2% following a decrease of 1.8%. The MBA’s average 30-year mortgage rate decreased to 3.26% from 3.29%.
- The EIA’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report showed crude oil inventory increasing by 6.3 million barrels.
- The Treasury held auctions for 154-day bills at a rate of 0.155%, 105-day bills at a rate of 0.145% and 10-year notes at a rate of 0.653%.
- Consumer credit outstanding decreased by $18.2 billion in May.
Across sectors, technology and semiconductors led gains. In the S&P 100, the following stocks led gains:
- Biogen (BIIB, Financial) 4.41%
- Nvidia (NVDA, Financial) 3.49%
- Morgan Stanley (MS, Financial) 2.99%
- Amazon (AMZN, Financial) 2.7%
- Disney (DIS, Financial) 2.67%
- PayPal (PYPL, Financial) 2.42%
- Apple (AAPL, Financial) 2.35%
Small-cap stocks
In small caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,427.40 for a gain of 11.41 points or 0.81%. The S&P 600 closed at 818.56 for a gain of 3.33 points or 0.41%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 10,030.99 for a gain of 105.67 points or 1.06%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 6,689.88 for a gain of 25.10 points or 0.38%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,774.86 for a gain of 11.94 points or 0.68%; the S&P 100 at 1,471.15 for a gain of 14.63 points or 1.00%; the Nasdaq 100 at 10,666.70 for a gain of 142.69 points or 1.36%; the Russell 3000 at 1,849.55 for a gain of 15.56 points or 0.85%; the Russell 1000 at 1,759.08 for a gain of 14.84 points or 0.85%; the Wilshire 5000 at 32,317.29 for a gain of 269.51 points or 0.84%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 569.80 for a gain of 0.18 points or 0.032%.
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