U.S. Market Indexes Mixed after Fed Minutes
U.S. market indexes were mixed on Wednesday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18144.20 for a gain of 15.54 points or 0.09 percent. The S&P 500 was also higher, closing at 2139.17 for a gain of 2.44 points or 0.11 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed lower at 5239.02 for a loss of -7.77 points or -0.15 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 15.64 for a gain of 0.28 points or 1.82 percent.
Wednesday’s Market Movers
Stocks gained as investors saw no surprises in the FOMC minutes. Leading reports on the economic calendar for Wednesday included the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Mortgage Applications, JOLTS and the FOMC Minutes. Mortgage applications decreased 6 percent from the previous week and refinancings decreased 8 percent. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. JOLTS report showed a decrease in job openings to 5.443 million in August which was down from 5.831 million in July. The Fed minutes from the September meeting showed Fed officials ready to raise rates relatively soon.
Stocks trading actively for the day included the following:
Bank of America
Apple
Cisco Systems
Kroger
Chesapeake Energy
Microsoft
General Electric
Ford
Wells Fargo
Alcoa
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average the following stocks led gains:
Nike 1.20
The Travelers Companies Inc. 1.18
McDonald’s 0.91
Apple 0.89
Top sectors for the broad market were real estate and utilities. Technology stocks were mixed on Wednesday. The Nasdaq Composite reported a loss of 0.15 percent while S&P 500 technology sector companies were up 0.17 percent. Stocks leading gains and losses in the S&P 500 technology sector included the following:
Losses
F5 Networks -3.29
Frontier Communications -3.13
Cisco -2.26
Gains
Total System Services 1.64
VeriSign 1.03
Automatic Data Processing 0.91
Apple 0.89
PayPal 0.87
In commodities, gold traded higher as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a gain of 0.19 points or 0.16 percent. The dollar was higher for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.22 points or 0.23 percent to 97.92.
Small-Cap Stocks
In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index was lower at 1227.23 for a loss of -0.40 points or -0.03 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index was higher at 745.50 for a gain of 1.13 points or 0.15 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index was at 7460.56 for a loss of -21.82 points or -0.29 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index closed at 8604.63 for a gain of 35.98 points or 0.42 percent.
Other Notable Indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1526.05 for a gain of 5.05 points or 0.33 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 949.62 for a gain of 0.58 points or 0.06 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1265.88 for a gain of 1.27 points or 0.10 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1185.22 for a gain of 1.32 points or 0.11 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 602.26 for a gain of 3.12 points or 0.52 percent.
