US close: Wall Street closes higher on Apple´s coattails

US stocks ended the session slightly higher on Wednesday with the tech-heavy Nasdaq gaining from well-received earnings from Apple, as the Federal Reserve struck a slightly more positive note in its policy statement explaining its decision to stay put on rates, as expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.14% to 19,890.94, the S&P 500 edged higher by 0.03% to 2,279.55 and the Nasdaq was up 0.50% to 5,642.65.

Following two days of policy deliberations, rate-setters at the Federal Reserve kept the target range for the Fed funds rate unchanged at between 0.50% and 0.75%, while calling attention to a recent improvement in consumer and corporate sentiment.

They also appeared to express a tad more confidence that inflation was headed back towards their 2.0% target, but economists said the post-meeting communique was on the whole little changed as the Fed waited for greater clarity on Trump´s fiscal plans.

Commenting on the FOMC's policy statement, Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics told clients: "Curiously, the FOMC has dropped the December reference to market-based measures of inflation expectations having "moved up", even though TIPS break-evens have risen further and are now above 2%.

"At the same time, though, the statement is more blunt on the inflation outlook. Previously, inflation was "expected to rise to 2% over the medium term"; now, "inflation will rise..." The section on monetary policy is unchanged. Overall, we view this statement as a very small nudge towards the next rate hike, but action in March will come only if the next two labor market reports are strong and we have a clear (ish) idea of the likely extent and timing of fiscal easing."

Meanwhile, oil prices were on the front foot, with West Texas Intermediate up $1.12 to $53.88 a barrel as the DoE reported a small decline in US oil output during the latest reference week and after Iran tested a ballistic missile, provoking an angry retort from White House officials.

The yield on the policy-sensitive 2-year US Treasury note ended the day up by one basis point at 1.21%, albeit down from the session highs of 1.24%.

On the corporate front, Apple shares pushed 6.10% higher after the company said on Tuesday that net sales in the last three months of 2016 were up 3% on the previous year to $78.4bn, marking the strongest quarter ever. Other tech stocks got a boost, with Facebook and Alphabet also in the green.

On the downside, Automatic Data Processing dropped 5.68% after the New Jersey-based company beat second quarter earnings estimates, but fell short of revenue forecasts.

Tupperware Brands was down 3.53% after topping fourth quarter earnings forecasts, but revenue came in below the consensus.

From a sector standpoint, the strongest performance was seen in the following industrial groups: Computer Hardware (4.95%), Technology Hardware (2.48%) and Mortgage Finance (1.63%).

On the data front, the ADP employment report, widely seen as a precursor to Friday’s non-farm payrolls, revealed that private sector employment in the US grew a lot more than expected in January.

Employers added 246,000 jobs last month, beating forecasts for a more modest 165,000 increase. Meanwhile, private payroll gains for December were revised down to 151,000 from a 153,000 gain initially reported.

Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees accounted for 62,000 of the jobs added to the economy, while medium-sized businesses with between 50 and 499 staff added 102,000 jobs, and large businesses accounted for an extra 83,000.

Markit’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index came in at in at 55.0 in January, this was just below the 55.1 forecasts, and was unchanged from the previous month.

The ISM manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to a reading of 56.0 in January from 54.5 in December, and a point above the consensus of 55.0.

Dow Jones - Risers

Apple Inc. (AAPL) $128.75 6.10%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $76.34 1.11%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $230.67 0.59%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $111.30 0.59%
American Express Co. (AXP) $76.76 0.50%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $84.95 0.38%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $162.71 0.38%
Boeing Co. (BA) $163.97 0.34%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $53.02 0.23%
3M Co. (MMM) $175.17 0.20%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $63.58 -1.66%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $108.18 -1.36%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $48.39 -1.27%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $82.94 -1.13%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $116.54 -1.05%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $36.52 -0.81%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $66.23 -0.76%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $41.26 -0.75%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $30.50 -0.72%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $95.11 -0.57%

S&P 500 - Risers

Avery Dennison Corp. (AVY) $79.65 9.08%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $128.75 6.10%
Legg Mason Inc. (LM) $33.49 5.68%
Owens-Illinois Inc. (OI) $19.83 4.92%
Allergan plc (AGN) $229.32 4.76%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $113.95 4.37%
Anthem Inc (ANTM) $160.79 4.31%
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) $36.63 3.80%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $18.13 3.07%
Waters Corp. (WAT) $145.73 2.88%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $71.24 -21.88%
Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI) $13.14 -17.46%
Dominion Resources Inc. (D) $71.85 -5.81%
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) $95.25 -5.68%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $31.33 -4.22%
PVH Corp. (PVH) $89.87 -4.20%
AFLAC Inc. (AFL) $67.14 -4.07%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $97.86 -3.52%
United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) $105.35 -3.46%
Apache Corp. (APA) $57.78 -3.41%