U.S. market indexes were higher Wednesday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18281.03 for a gain of 112.58 points or 0.62 percent. The S&P 500 was also higher, closing at 2159.73 for a gain of 9.24 points or 0.43 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 5316.02 for a gain of 26.36 points or 0.50 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was lower for the day at 13.04 for a loss of -0.59 points or -4.33 percent.

Wednesday’s Market Movers

Stocks ended the day higher Wednesday with the market’s economic indicators and investors better prepared for a rate hike from the Federal Reserve. The ADP Employment report showed private sector job gains at 154,000, slightly below the expectation of 170,000. The international trade deficit increased to $-40.7 billion.  Crude oil inventories fell 3.0 million barrels to 502.7 million barrels.  Factory orders beat consensus at a 0.2 percent gain versus a -0.2 percent expectation. Mortgage applications increased 2.9 percent and refinancings increased 5 percent. Services was the highlight of the day with the PMI Services Index at 52.3 up from 51. The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index  was also higher at 57.1 up from 51.4.

Stocks trading actively for the day included the following:

Bank of America

Chesapeake Energy

Coty

Ford

Procter & Gamble

Salesforce.com

Wells Fargo

Frontier Communications

Alcoa

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led gains for the day:

Goldman Sachs 2.55

Caterpillar           2.18

Boeing 1.82

DuPont 1.79

JPMorgan                            1.64

Top sectors for the broad market included financials and energy. Technology was higher for the day with S&P 500 technology stocks up 0.36 percent. The Nasdaq 100 was higher, closing at 4877.75 for a gain of 18.28 points or 0.38 percent. Stocks leading technology higher included the following:

Liberty Global Group      8.35

Liberty Media Group      7.52

Netflix   3.84

Discovery Communications          2.74

In commodities, gold traded lower as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a loss of -0.19 points or -0.16 percent. The dollar was higher for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.01 points or 0.01 percent to 96.15.

Small-Cap Stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index was higher at 1248.37 for a gain of 8.59 points or 0.69 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index was higher at 755.37 for a gain of 4.71 points or 0.63 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index was higher at 7625.64 for a gain of 57.46 points or 0.76 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 8676.11 for a gain of 44.63 points or 0.52 percent.

Other Notable Indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1541.93 for a gain of 7.98 points or 0.52 percent; the S&P 100 at 956.56 for a gain of 4.08 points or 0.43 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1279.60 for a gain of 5.70 points or 0.45 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1197.44 for a gain of 5.09 points or 0.43 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 604.65 for a gain of 1.26 points or 0.21 percent.