U.S. market indexes were higher on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 26,149.39 for a gain of 72.50 points or 0.28%. The S&P 500 Index closed at 2,823.81 for a gain of 1.38 points or 0.05%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 7,411.48 for a gain of 9.00 points or 0.12%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 13.74 for a loss of -1.05 points or -7.10%.
In January, the Dow Jones gained 5.80%, the S&P 500 gained 5.65% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 7.41%.
Wednesday’s Market Movers
Stocks regained some ground on Wednesday after beginning the week with losses. The Fed’s announcement to hold its interest rate steady with indications for a rate hike in March helped stocks to gain and alleviated some market uncertainties.
Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:
- The Federal Reserve left its federal funds rate at 1.25% to 1.50% after a two-day monetary policy meeting.
- The Mortgage Bankers Association’s mortgage applications index decreased -2.6% for the week.
- The ADP Employment Report showed an increase of 234,000 private sector jobs in December.
- The Employment Cost Index increased 0.6% for the quarter and 2.6% for the year.
- The Pending Home Sales Index increased 0.5% for the month.
- The EIA Petroleum Status Report showed an increase of 6.8 million barrels in oil inventory for the week.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led gains:
- Boeing (BA, Financial) 4.93%
- General Electric (GE, Financial) 1.32%
- Nike (NKE, Financial) 1.32%
- United Technologies (UTX, Financial) 1.11%
- Verizon (VZ, Financial) 0.83%
- American Express (AXP, Financial) 0.70%
In the broad market, real estate, utilities and technology led gains.
Small-cap stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index closed at 1,574.98 for a loss of -7.83 points or -0.49%. The S&P 600 Index closed at 959.39 for a loss of -5.22 points or -0.54%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 9,772.29 for a loss of -45.54 points or -0.46%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 10,307.03 for a loss of -38.86 points or -0.38%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,953.97 for a loss of -3.49 points or -0.18%; the S&P 100 Index at 1,251.42 for a loss of -0.51 points or -0.04%; the Russell 3000 Index at 1,664.68 for a loss of -0.07 points or -0.01%; the Russell 1000 Index at 1,561.66 for a gain of 0.55 points or 0.04%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 720.06 for a loss of -0.23 points or -0.03%.
