The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 30,154.54 on Wednesday with a loss of 44.77 points or -0.15%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,701.17 for a gain of 6.55 points or 0.18%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 12,658.19 for a gain of 63.13 points or 0.50%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 22.50 for a loss of 0.39 points or -1.70%.
Wednesday's market movers
U.S. stocks ended mostly higher Wednesday as more Americans got vaccinated for Covid-19. On Capital Hill, lawmakers made more progress toward stimulus measures integrated with a fiscal spending deal that must be passed by the end of the week to keep the government running.
On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee also ended its final meeting of 2020. The FOMC kept its federal funds target rate unchanged at 0% to 0.25%. The Fed plans to continue a focus on bond buying as a key policy tool. The Fed also said it foresees a faster rate of unemployment decline in 2021.
In other news:
- Retail sales decreased 1.1% in November following a decrease of 0.1% and missing the estimate of -0.3%. Retail sales excluding autos decreased 0.9% in November. Year over year, retail sales increased 4.1%.
- The MBA Mortgage Applications Index increased 1.1% following a decrease of 1.2%. The MBA's average 30-year mortgage rate decreased to 2.85% from 2.90%.
- The Markit Composite PMI decreased to 55.7 in December form 58.6. Separately, the Markit Manufacturing PMI decreased to 56.5 from 56.7 and the Markit Services PMI decreased to 55.3 from 58.4.
- Business inventories increased 0.7% in October following an increase of 0.8%.
- The NAHB Housing Market Index decreased to 86 in December from 90.
- Crude oil inventory decreased 3.1 million barrels, according to the EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
- The Treasury held auctions for 105-day bills at a rate of 0.085% and 154-day bills at a rate of 0.090%.
Across the board:
- Google (GOOG, Financial)(GOOGL, Financial) was down on reports of a lawsuit over digital ads.
- Lyft (LYFT, Financial) gained 1.24% on a collaboration for driverless cars in 2023.
- Global X Cannabis ETF (POTX, Financial) gained 1.43%.
- Peloton Interactive (PTON, Financial) gained 4.87%.
- Tilray (TLRY, Financial) gained 18.55% with news of a Tilray-Aphria merger.
Small-cap stocks
In small caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,952.72 for a loss of 7.04 points or -0.36%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,105.53 for a loss of 6.14 points or -0.55%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 13,522.26 for a loss of 24.94 points or -0.18%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 8,995.99 for a loss of 46.53 points or -0.51%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,278.89 for a loss of 8.15 points or -0.36%; the S&P 100 at 1,696.26 for a gain of 4.68 points or 0.28%; the Nasdaq 100 at 12,668.16 for a gain of 72.24 points or 0.57%; the Russell 3000 at 2,215.18 for a gain of 2.69 points or 0.12%; the Russell 1000 at 2,088.96 for a gain of 3.23 points or 0.15%; the Wilshire 5000 at 38,645.85 for a gain of 44.39 points or 0.12%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 686.43 for a loss of 1.89 points or -0.27%.
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