US close: Stocks smooth bumps as Beige Book bears benign backdrop

Recouping mid-session losses, US stocks ended the day largely flat as recovering oil prices balanced a rising dollar, while the Federal Reserve's 'Beige Book' indicated the economy was growing at a moderate pace without much inflationary pressure.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average eventually smoothed out the earlier dip to end just 0.06% lower to 18,526.14 points, as the S&P 500 similarly sidestepped to slip only 0.02% to 2,186.15, although the Nasdaq nosed up 8.02 points to close at 5,283.93, with what seemed to be a solid unveiling by Apple of its new iPhone 7 smartphone contributing to some upward market momentum.

Equities markets again moved in some synchronicity with crude oil prices, as the cost of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate started flat but later had risen 2.8% to $46.1 per barrel and Brent by 2.6% to $48.5.

There were statements from three state Fed presidents to mull over on the day, starting with San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams overnight comments that it “makes sense” to raise interest rates at a gradual pace, “preferably sooner rather than later”.

At the House Financial Services Panel on ‘Governance, Monetary Policy and Economic Performance’ on Wednesday, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said there is a "strong case" for a rate hike in September, while Kansas City Fed President Esther George added that she felt the economy was "at or near full employment".

Later in the day the central bank's review of regional economic conditions, a key influence of policy known as the Beige Book, found the US economy expanded at a modest pace in July and August but showed little sign of wage pressures outside highly skilled jobs.

Most of the Fed's 12 districts reported wage pressures remained "fairly modest" and were expected to remain so over the coming months. Overall, respondents expected growth to continue at a “moderate” pace in the coming months.

This tallied with Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data from the Labor Department earlier in the day that revealed the number of job openings rose by 228,000 to 5.9m on the last business day of July. The number of separations, which includes people quitting and getting laid off, was little changed from June and the number of hires was also broadly unchanged. Analysts said the numbers were unlikely to change any rate setter's minds at the Fed yet still added to the uncertainty surrounding the timing of the next hike.

"The level of openings surged past its previous peak in 2014 and has moved steadily higher since," Barclays economists noted. "The level of openings indicates that jobs are available and is a sign of labor market tightness… We do not typically take much signal from the series, given its late release date, but in this instance, we take the data as confirmation of the solid underlying trend we see in labor markets."

In corporate news, Chipotle Mexican Grill shares rose after Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management said late on Tuesday that it has bought a 9.9% stake in the company.

Apache Corporation surged as it claimed to have discovered the equivalent of at least 2bn barrels of oil in a new west Texas field, which could turn out to be one of the biggest energy finds of the past decade.

Intel was said to be nearing the sale of a 51% stake in its McAfee unit to private-equity firm TPG, a deal that will value the cybersecurity business at about $4.2bn, according to the Wall Street Journal's sources.

On the downside, Advanced Micro Devices slid after it announced plans to raise more than $1bn in a stock and debt offering.