Dow Jones Closes at 23,157.60

U.S. market indexes were higher on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 23,157.60 for a gain of 160.16 points or 0.70%. The S&P 500 closed at 2,561.26 for a gain of 1.90 points or 0.07%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 6,624.22 for a gain of 0.56 points or 0.01%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower for the day at 10.11 for a loss of -0.20 points or -1.94%.

Wednesday’s market movers

All three leading indexes reported new highs on Wednesday. A positive earnings report from IBM helped the Dow Jones to reach its new closing high of 23157.60 on Wednesday.

Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:

• The Mortgage Bankers Association’s mortgage applications index increased 3.6%.
• Housing starts decreased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.127 million.
• The EIA Petroleum Status report showed a decrease of 5.7 million barrels of oil inventory for the week.
• The Beige Book was released by the Federal Reserve. It maintained its assessment of economic growth at modest to moderate.

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led gains:

IBM (IBM, Financial) 8.91%

Goldman Sachs (GS, Financial) 2.43%

Intel (INTC, Financial) 1.21%

Travelers (TRV, Financial) 1.04%

UnitedHealth (UNH, Financial) 0.73%

Caterpillar (CAT, Financial) 0.57%

Nike (NKE, Financial) 0.56%

Merck (MRK, Financial) 0.49%

Verizon (VZ, Financial) 0.45%

American Express (AXP, Financial) 0.39%

In the broad market, financial and technology stocks led gains. The S&P 500 financial sector gained 0.50% and the S&P 500 technology sector gained 0.25%.

Small-cap stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,505.14 for a gain of 7.65 points or 0.51%. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 911.58 for a gain of 6.38 points or 0.70%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 9,102.00 for a gain of 36.99 points or 0.41%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 10,093.26 for a gain of 42.20 points or 0.42%.

Other notable indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,821.89 for a gain of 5.55 points or 0.31%; the S&P 100 Index at 1,131.78 for a gain of 0.81 points or 0.07%; the Russell 3000 Index at 1,519.13 for a gain of 1.64 points or 0.11%; the Russell 1000 Index at 1,419.77 for a gain of 1.06 points or 0.07%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 680.00 for a loss of -0.18 points or -0.03%.