US close: Dow Jones, S&P 500 close at record highs

dl nyse new york stock exchange new york city nyc wall street wall st nasdaq markets trading finance unsplash — Sharecast / David Vives via Unsplash

Both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 closed at record highs on Wednesday as investors thumbed over minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.03% at 42,512.00, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.71% to 5,792.04 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.60% firmer at 18,291.62.

The Dow opened 431.63 points higher on Wednesday, extending gains recorded in the previous session.

Wednesday's primary focus were minutes from the Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee's September meeting, which revealed that a "substantial majority" of policymakers were in favour of slashing interest rates by 50 basis points in its first interest rate cut in four years.

On the macro front, US mortgage applications fell by 5.1% in the week ended 4 October, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, extending the prior week's 1.3% drop in taking a bite out of the almost 30% surge in demand throughout September. Applications to refinance a mortgage sank by 9%, while those to purchase a home were broadly unchanged.

Elsewhere, wholesale inventories increased 0.10% month-on-month in August, according to the Census Bureau.

In the corporate space, Alphabet shares were in focus after the Department of Justice said it was looking into a possible forced breakup of search engine giant Google, while shares in aircraft manufacturer Boeing flew lower after strike talks with its workers' union hit an impasse.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $234.37 2.48%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $396.19 2.12%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $82.45 2.08%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $505.18 1.73%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $229.54 1.67%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $591.22 1.66%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $110.27 1.61%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $53.56 1.57%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $322.41 1.49%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $213.42 1.27%