U.S. Market Indexes Gain with No Significant Policy Changes from BOJ or FOMC
U.S. market indexes gained on Wednesday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18293.70 for a gain of 163.74 points or 0.90 percent. The S&P 500 was also higher, closing at 2163.12 for a gain of 23.36 points or 1.09 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 5295.18 for a gain of 53.83 points or 1.03 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 13.28 for a loss of -2.64 points or -16.58 percent.
Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.
Wednesday’s Market Movers
The focus of the day’s trading was on the announcements from the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve. Both central banks held their September monetary policy meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Bank of Japan’s policy meeting announcement was released Tuesday night at 11:00 PM EST. The Bank of Japan was conservative in its policy decision keeping its central bank rate at -0.10% and its bond buying quantity unchanged at 80 trillion yen. It will however change its bond buying tactics to seek to stabilize its 10-year government bond yield at 0%.
The Federal Reserve released its central bank statement following the conclusion of its two-day meeting at 2:00 PM EST on Wednesday. The announcement from the Federal Open Market Committee said it would keep its central bank rate unchanged; also conservative considering the central bank last year was targeting four rate hikes in 2016. The Federal Reserve will continue reinvesting in agency debt, agency mortgage-backed securities and Treasuries.
For the day the following stocks were traded the most actively:
Bank of America
Wells Fargo
Procter & Gamble
Frontier Communications
Chesapeake Energy
Apple
Microsoft
Ford
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led gains:
Boeing 2.17
Caterpillar 2.17
Chevron 1.98
UnitedHealth 1.77
United Technologies 1.72
Microsoft 1.67
Top sectors for the broad market included energy, utilities and materials. Technology also gained for the day. S&P 500 technology stocks were up 1.13 percent. The Nasdaq Composite was higher at 5295.18 for a gain of 1.03 percent. The Nasdaq 100 was also higher, closing at 4853.75 for a gain of 1.01 percent. Stocks leading gains for the day in the technology sector included:
Adobe Systems 7.12
Liberty Global Group 6.86
Liberty Media Group 6.68
In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 1.83 points or 1.46 percent. The dollar was lower for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index was down -0.43 points or -0.45 percent to 95.57.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index closed at 1245.04 for a gain of 16.71 points or 1.36 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 753.13 for a gain of 10.77 points or 1.45 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index was higher at 7572.44 for a gain of 97.70 points or 1.31 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index was higher at 8687.66 for a gain of 121.79 points or 1.42 percent.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1544.67 for a gain of 19.32 points or 1.27 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 957.25 for a gain of 8.48 points or 0.89 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1280.85 for a gain of 14.17 points or 1.12 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1198.97 for a gain of 13.03 points or 1.10 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 617.78 for a gain of 10.41 points or 1.70 percent.
