U.S. Market Indexes Higher before Central Bank Announcements
U.S. market indexes were higher Tuesday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18129.96 for a gain of 9.79 points or 0.05 percent. The S&P 500 was also higher, closing at 2139.76 for a gain of 0.64 points or 0.03 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 5241.35 for a gain of 6.33 points or 0.12 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 15.92 for a gain of 0.39 points or 2.51 percent.
Tuesday’s Market Movers
On Tuesday, stocks traded mostly flat with gains just above zero for the day as investors awaited results from central bank meetings at the Fed and Bank of Japan. The Bank of Japan’s central bank policy meeting will conclude Tuesday evening at 11:00 PM EST and the Fed will conclude Wednesday afternoon. The BOJ could lower its central bank rate further into negative territory while the Fed could increase its rate.
For Tuesday, Housing Starts was the only leading report on the economic calendar. Housing starts increased to an annualized rate of 1.142 million from 1.212 million. The consensus was for housing starts to decrease to 1.190 million.
For the day stocks trading actively in the market included the following:
Chesapeake Energy
Bank of America
Wells Fargo
Ford
Apple
Procter & Gamble
General Electric
Intel
Frontier Communications
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led gains for the day:
McDonald’s 1.08
Merck 0.99
General Electric 0.82
In the broad market sectors leading gains for the day included healthcare and consumer staples. Technology was lower for the day in the S&P 500 technology sector however gained in the broader market. The Nasdaq 100 closed at 4805.22 for a gain of 0.19 percent while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 5241.35 for a gain of 0.12 percent. Stocks leading gains in the technology sector overall included the following:
Liberty Global Group 6.86
Liberty Media Group 6.68
Gilead Sciences 3.53
In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 0.12 points or 0.10 percent. The dollar was higher for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.15 points or 0.16 percent to 96.01.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1228.33 for a loss of -4.20 points or -0.34 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 742.36 for a loss of -2.49 points or -0.33 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 7474.74 for a loss of -23.38 points or -0.31 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 8565.87 for a loss of -42.04 points or -0.49 percent.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closing at 1525.35 for a loss of -7.04 points or -0.46 percent; the S&P 100 Index closing at 948.77 for a gain of 1.42 points or 0.15 percent; the Russell 3000 Index closing at 1266.68 for a loss of -0.41 percent or -0.03 percent; the Russell 1000 Index closing at 1185.94 for a loss of -0.08 points or -0.01 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index closing at 607.37 for a loss of -1.64 points or -0.27 percent.
