US close: Stocks end session higher following FOMC minutes
Wall Street stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 closing at a fresh record higher after snapping a seven-day winning streak in the previous session.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.30% at 34,681.79, while the S&P 500 was 0.34% higher at 4,358.13 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.01% firmer at 14,665.06
The Dow closed 104.41 points higher on Wednesday, taking a chunk out of the 200-plus point loss recorded in the previous session.
Energy stocks were again in focus on Wednesday after West Texas Intermediate crude briefly hit a six-year high yesterday, while bank shares were in the red after long-term bond yields fell further, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note slipping to 1.306%.
Wednesday's primary focus, however, was minutes from the Federal Open Markets Committee's latest meeting in June, at which the central bank held short-term interest rates near zero but also hinted that it would be open to adjusting policy over the coming months. However, while the minutes revealed the Fed had discussed tapering, they also showed the FOMC was in no rush to kick off the process.
On the macro front, mortgage applications fell 1.8% in the week ended 2 July, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, with both purchases and refinancing seeing a further dip as housing market conditions continue to moderate further.
Elsewhere, JOLTs job openings data for last month revealed the number of job openings was little changed at 9.2m on the last business day of May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Hires were little changed at 5.9m, while total separations decreased to 5.3m, with the quits rate decreasing to 2.5% and the layoffs and discharges rate hit a series low of 0.9%.
No major corporate results were slated for release on Wednesday.
Dow Jones - Risers
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $144.53 1.77%
3M Co. (MMM) $199.84 1.50%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $323.64 1.37%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $152.32 0.98%
American Express Co. (AXP) $171.04 0.88%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $54.33 0.84%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $234.65 0.82%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $169.33 0.81%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $279.85 0.79%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $137.02 0.76%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Boeing Co. (BA) $232.19 -1.67%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $103.12 -0.84%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $248.72 -0.61%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $367.95 -0.52%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $47.47 -0.48%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $172.97 -0.41%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $243.01 -0.26%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $56.00 -0.16%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $139.87 -0.05%
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) $230.94 0.00%
S&P 500 - Risers
Affiliated Mgrs Group (AMG) $176.96 6.09%
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) $86.28 3.85%
Flowserve Corp. (FLS) $40.80 3.50%
Nucor Corp. (NUE) $95.65 3.35%
Carmax Inc. (KMX) $137.08 3.27%
Rockwell Automation Inc. (ROK) $292.64 3.04%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $355.25 3.00%
Weyerhaeuser Co. (WY) $34.96 2.90%
Pentair plc (PNR) $69.35 2.82%
Abiomed Inc. (ABMD) $335.39 2.66%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Macy's Inc. (M) $17.20 -5.81%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $137.68 -4.50%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $90.62 -4.08%
Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) $34.90 -3.72%
Kohls Corp. (KSS) $51.90 -3.59%
Carnival Corp. (CCL) $24.16 -3.44%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $78.33 -3.39%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $112.95 -3.38%
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH) $27.13 -3.33%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $20.33 -3.26%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $355.25 3.00%
Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK) $182.15 2.56%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $53.76 2.48%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $87.75 2.48%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $166.91 2.39%
Cintas Corp. (CTAS) $389.60 1.78%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $32.97 1.77%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $144.53 1.77%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $742.33 1.75%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $70.09 1.55%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $137.68 -4.50%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $78.33 -3.39%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $112.95 -3.38%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $20.33 -3.26%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $341.14 -3.08%
Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $33.46 -2.80%
Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) $2,166.35 -2.52%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $100.10 -2.40%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $182.84 -2.20%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $645.51 -2.13