The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 25,333.82 on Wednesday with a loss of -81.37 points or -0.32%. The S&P 500 closed at 2,813.36 for a loss of -2.93 points or -0.10%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 7,707.29 for a gain of 35.50 points or 0.46%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 13.22 for a gain of 0.40 points or 3.04%.
Wednesday’s market movers
U.S. market indexes were mostly lower Wednesday after the Trump administration reported it was considering raising the potential tax rate on an additional $200 billion of goods from China to 25% from 10%. Goods in the U.S.’s second round of tariffs would include furniture, lamps and computers as well as food items.
The technology sector managed to avoid losses from the day’s selloff with Apple (AAPL, Financial) rising 5.95% in the Nasdaq Composite after its earnings report. The S&P 500 technology sector was also higher for the day with a gain of 0.87%.
Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:
- Preliminary motor vehicle sales were released with an expected consensus of 17.1 million versus last month’s 17.5 million.
- The Mortgage Bankers Association’s mortgage applications index decreased -2.6%.
- The PMI Manufacturing Index decreased to 55.3 from 55.4.
- The ISM Manufacturing Index decreased to 58.1 from 60.2.
- Construction spending increased 6.1% annually.
- The EIA Petroleum Status report showed a weekly increase in oil inventory of 3.8 million barrels.
- The Federal Reserve ended their two-day policy meeting with no change to the federal funds rate.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led losses:
- Caterpillar (CAT, Financial) -3.33%
- General Electric (GE, Financial) -2.49%
- 3M (MMM, Financial) -2.27%
- Exxon Mobil (XOM, Financial) -1.14%
Small-cap stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,669.26 for a loss of -1.55 points or -0.09%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,048.49 for a loss of -0.39 points or -0.04%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 10,294.58 for a gain of 23.92 points or 0.23%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 10,536.10 for a loss of -28.88 points or -0.27%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,978.24 for a loss of -6.25 points or -0.31%; the S&P 100 at 1,244.11 for a gain of 2.35 points or 0.19%; the Russell 3000 at 1,669.41 for a loss of -1.55 points or -0.09%; the Russell 1000 at 1,558.91 for a loss of -1.45 points or -0.09%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 708.46 for a loss of -6.72 points or -0.94%.
