The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 25,706.68 on Wednesday with a loss of -91.74 points or -0.36%. The S&P 500 closed at 2,809.21 for a loss of -0.71 points or -0.03%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 7,642.70 for a loss of -2.79 points or -0.04%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 17.40 for a loss of -0.22 points or -1.25%.
Wednesday’s market movers
U.S. market indexes closed lower with lower volatility and lower trading volume on Wednesday. Losses followed the Federal Reserve’s release of its meeting minutes, which reinforced plans for increasing its federal funds rate. In the S&P 500, the consumer discretionary and industrial sectors led losses. Alcoa (AA, Financial) topped the earnings reports news with an earnings per share beat of 152% after the market close.
Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:
- The MBA mortgage applications index decreased 7%.
- Building permits decreased 0.6% in September.
- Housing starts decreased 5.3% in September.
- The Federal Reserve released its September 2018 meeting minutes.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led losses:
- IBM (IBM, Financial) -7.63%
- Home Depot (HD, Financial) -4.34%
- UnitedHealth (UNH, Financial) -1.93%
- United Technologies (UTX, Financial) -1.84%
- Caterpillar (CAT, Financial) -1.65%
Small-cap stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,589.60 for a loss of -7.23 points or -0.45%. The S&P 600 closed at 990.87 for a loss of -5.92 points or -0.59%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 9,945.88 for a loss of -45.42 points or -0.45%. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 9,820.08 for a loss of -22.31 points or -0.23%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,913.42 for a loss of -4.97 points or -0.26%; the S&P 100 at 1,251.66 for a loss of 1.20 points or 0.10%; the Russell 3000 at 1,657.83 for a loss of -1.41 points or -0.08%; the Russell 1000 at 1,553.39 for a loss of -0.86 points or -0.06%; the Wilshire 5000 at 29,056.22 for a loss of -26.18 points or -0.09%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 697.18 for a loss of -2.00 points or -0.29%.
Read more here:
