Stocks Settle Higher After Shaky Trading Day
Markets were all over the place on Wednesday, with the Dow shedding 459 points at session lows, before snapping back by the close to notch a 100-point win. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also clawed their way back into the black by end of the day, as investors digested news that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has agreed, in a closed meeting of Republicans, to offer a short-term extension of the U.S. debt ceiling in order to avoid national default and a subsequent economic crisis.
Meanwhile, investors rotated back into the beaten-down tech sector, and shifted away from reopening stocks, following a pessimistic review of the airline sector from Goldman Sachs. Also propping up stocks was a better-than-expected ADP employment report for September, which showed private jobs rising to 568,000 for the month.
The Dow Jones Average (DJI - 34,416.99) gained 102.32 points or 0.3%. Microsoft (MSFT) paced the gainers with a 1.5% pop, while Dow (DOW) fell to the bottom, shedding 3.3%.
The S&P 500 Index (SPX - 4,363.55) tacked on 17.8 points or 0.4%, for the day, and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC - 14,501.91) jumped 68.1 points, or 0.5% for the day.
Lastly, the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX - 21.00) lost 0.3 points or 1.4%.
OIL SNAPS 4-DAY WIN STREAK
A surprise increase in U.S. crude inventories had oil ending its four-day win streak. This marked crude's second-straight. Meanwhile, natural-gas futures also weighed on the commodity, after dropping over 10% on Russian President Vladimir Putin's promise that the country would boost its fuel supply to Europe. In response, November-dated crude lost $1.50, or 1.9%, to settle at $77.43 a barrel.
Gold prices climbed higher on Wednesday, piggybacking off a drop in Treasury yields and brushing off better-than-expected jobs data for September. December-dated gold added 90 cents or 0.05%, to settle at $1,761.80 an ounce for the day.
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