The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 31,961.86 on Wednesday with a gain of 424.51 points or 1.35%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,925.43 for a gain of 44.06 points or 1.14%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 13,597.97 for a gain of 132.77 points or 0.99%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 21.34 for a loss of 1.77 points or -7.66%.
Wednesday's Market Movers
The major U.S. indexes closed with strong gains Wednesday. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell finished his semi-annual Congressional testimony, speaking before a House of Representatives committee. This week, sentiment from Fed officials has suggested an improving economy in 2021 with no urgency for monetary policy changes regardless of inflation moves.
On the earnings calendar Wednesday:
- Lowe's (LOW, Financial): Revenue of $20.31 billion increased 26.7% year over year and beat estimates by $870 million. Q4 GAAP EPS of $1.32 beat estimates by $0.13 and non-GAAP EPS of $1.33 beat estimates by $0.12.
- Overstock.com (OSTK, Financial): Revenue of $684.02 million increased 84.4% year over year and beat estimates by $14.03 million. Q4 GAAP EPS of $0.26 beat estimates by $0.06.
- Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR, Financial): Revenue of $37.09 million increased 109.9% year over year and missed estimates by $1.41 million. Q4 funds from operations of $1.36 missed estimates by $0.07.
- Nvidia (NVDA, Financial): Revenue of $5 billion increased 60.8% year over year and beat estimates by $180 million. Q4 GAAP EPS of $2.31 beat estimates by $0.33 and non-GAAP EPS of $3.10 beat estimates by $0.29.
On the economic calendar:
- The MBA Mortgage Applications Index decreased by -11.4% following a decrease of -5.1%. The MBA's average 30-year mortgage rate increased to 3.08% from 2.98%.
- New home sales increased by 4.3% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.923 million.
- Crude Oil inventory increased by 1.3 million barrels, according to the EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
- The Treasury held auctions for 2-year notes at a rate of 0.045%, 119-day bills at a rate of 0.045% and 5-year notes at a rate of 0.621%.
Across the board:
- BigCommerce (BIGC, Financial) gained 6.84% on news of a new partnership with Walmart (WMT, Financial).
- Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, Financial) gained 1.34% following a Food and Drug Administration study that reported its vaccine effective for fighting COVID and also safe for use.
- Verizon (VZ, Financial) and AT&T (T, Financial) ended higher after a 5G auction.
- GameStop (GME, Financial) gained 103.94%
- The 10-year Treasury ended the day with an annualized yield of approximately 1.38%, up from 1.29% on February 18.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 2,284.38 for gain of 53.07 points or 2.38%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,323.76 for a gain of 35.23 points or 2.73%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 15,481.55 for a gain of 284.01 points or 1.87%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 10,660.18 for a gain of 272.94 points or 2.63%.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,577.70 for gain of 46.97 points or 1.86%; the S&P 100 at 1,784.24 for gain of 18.33 points or 1.04%; the Nasdaq 100 at 13,302.19 for gain of 107.48 points or 0.81%; the Russell 3000 at 2,373.83 for gain of 26.99 points or 1.15%; the Russell 1000 at 2,224.34 for gain of 23.28 points or 1.06%; the Wilshire 5000 at 41,430.24 for gain of 481.77 points or 1.18%; and the Dow Jones US Select Dividend Index at 777.11 for gain of 12.70 points or 1.66%.
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