U.S. stock ended higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 closing at a fresh record high, as investors assessed the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s January policy meeting and weighed President Donald Trump’s tariff threats. All three major indexes ended in positive territory.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.2% or 71.25 points, to end at 44,627.59 points.
The S&P 500 added 0.2% or 14.57 points, to finish at 6,144.15 points. Healthcare, utilities and consumer staples were the biggest gainers.
The Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) added 0.5%, while the Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV) rose 1.3%. The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) gained 0.8%. Nine of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in positive territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.1% or 14.99 points to close at 20,056 points.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 0.52% to 15.84. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 1.1-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, a 1.22-to-1 ratio favored declining issues. A total of 16.36 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, higher than the last 20-session average of 15.57 billion.
Investors Assess Minutes of Fed’s Meeting, Trump’s Tariff Plans
Markets have been volatile over the past few weeks after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged in its January FOIMC meeting. On Wednesday, investors closely scrutinized the minutes of the Fed’s January policy meeting which revealed that policymakers are concerned about stubbornly high inflation.
Also, Fed officials are concerned about the potential effect of Trump’s tariffs. These have been posing major challenges for the central bank in bringing prices down to their target.
Investors also digested a fresh round of tariff proposals from Trump on Tuesday. The President shared his plans to impose 25% tariffs on the import of pharmaceuticals, autos, and semiconductors.
Trump didn’t divulge much if the proposed tariffs will be broad-based or will target specific countries. The fresh round of tariff proposals has further raised fears of a potential global trade war.
However, stocks rallied on Wednesday despite the lingering fears of a trade war. Tech stocks rallied on Wednesday. Shares of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) rose 1.3% after the tech giant launched its first-ever quantum computing chip. Shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) gained 0.2%, while Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) increased 0.7%. Microsoft has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Economic Data
In economic data released on Wednesday, the Commerce Department said that U.S. housing starts declined 9.8% sequentially in January. Single-family housing starts fell 8.4%. year over year, single-family housing starts declined 1.8% in January.
However, building permits inched higher by 0.1% sequentially in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.48 million.
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