US close: Stocks add to previous gains on eve of Jackson Hole
Wall Street closed slightly higher across the board on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq adding to their record highs from the previous session as investors looked to the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole summit.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.11% at 35,405.50, as the S&P 500 added 0.22% to 4,496.19 and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.15% at 15,041.86.
The Dow Jones closed 39.24 points higher on Wednesday, extending the modest gains recorded in the previous session that came as the FDA's full approval of Pfizer and BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine gave sentiment a boost.
Trading was somewhat muted on Wednesday, with market participants continuing to hold out for the beginning of tomorrow's likely market moving symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Investors were taking a wait-and-see approach to whether or not central bankers would outline their plans for tapering monetary stimulus after already having started talks as to how to pull back on its $120bn a month bond-buying program by the end of 2021.
Traders were also digesting news that Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler had pledged to strictly enforce a three-year deadline that would require Chinese companies to allow inspections of financial audits or risk being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq as soon as 2024.
On the macro front, US mortgage applications increased 1.6% in the week ended 20 August, rebounding from a 3.9% fall in the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Applications to purchase a home surged 3% and those for refinancing were up 0.9% as the average fixed 30-year mortgage rate dropped three basis points to 3.03% - easing from a four-week high in the previous week.
Elsewhere, orders in the US for goods made to last more than three years dipped last month, dragged down by a decline in demand for civilian aircraft.
According to the Department of Commerce, in seasonally-adjusted terms, total durable goods orders slipped in July at a month-on-month pace of 0.1% to reach $257.2bn, against consensus expectations for a contraction of 0.3%.
That was on top of a downward revision in June's rate of change of one-tenth of a percentage point to 0.8%.
In the corporate space, Box was down 0.89% while Salesforce added 0.46%, ahead of both reporting their latest quarterly earnings figures after the closing bell.
Dow Jones - Risers
American Express Co. (AXP) $166.11 3.05%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $160.94 2.07%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $162.61 1.23%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $413.12 1.12%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $214.76 1.02%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $63.88 0.98%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $98.51 0.68%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $48.65 0.64%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $260.85 0.46%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $238.74 0.13%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $221.59 -1.24%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $419.65 -0.89%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $77.05 -0.86%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $148.36 -0.84%
Visa Inc. (V) $232.59 -0.70%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $174.23 -0.66%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $142.65 -0.37%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $323.88 -0.31%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $302.01 -0.20%
3M Co. (MMM) $194.36 -0.20%
S&P 500 - Risers
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $65.50 7.80%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $389.90 4.29%
NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) $45.60 3.75%
Alliance Data Systems Corp. (ADS) $97.16 3.67%
Quanta Services Inc. (PWR) $102.18 3.16%
American Express Co. (AXP) $166.11 3.05%
MGM Resorts International (MGM) $42.13 2.98%
Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) $150.19 2.96%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $36.01 2.92%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $74.04 2.86%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) $31.14 -17.64%
Gap Inc. (GPS) $27.48 -5.31%
Nucor Corp. (NUE) $119.97 -2.66%
Foot Locker Inc. (FL) $58.26 -2.23%
Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) $41.10 -2.19%
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) $160.66 -1.93%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $342.75 -1.90%
Digital Realty Trust (DLR) $158.63 -1.83%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $47.51 -1.80%
Kellogg Co. (K) $63.94 -1.62%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $65.50 7.80%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $389.90 4.29%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $74.04 2.86%
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $151.45 2.30%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $222.13 1.93%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $334.02 1.84%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $74.16 1.81%
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) $78.52 1.66%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $487.47 1.63%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $20.15 1.61%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) $160.66 -1.93%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $342.75 -1.90%
T-Mobile Us, Inc. (TMUS) $139.86 -1.85%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $221.59 -1.24%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $80.81 -1.20%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $103.14 -1.18%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $71.41 -1.16%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $164.00 -1.12%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $547.58 -1.05%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $101.63 -0.94%