US close: Stocks end session slightly higher following worst day in two years

dl nyse new york stock exchange wall st street city finance dow jones nasdaq sp finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america 2 — New York Stock ExchangeSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks closed slightly higher on Wednesday following the previous session's heavy CPI-fuelled losses.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.10% at 31,135.09, while the S&P 500 was 0.34% firmer at 3,946.01 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.74% stronger at 11,719.68.

The Dow closed 30.12 points higher on Wednesday, taking only a very modest bite out of losses recorded in the blue-chip's worst session in more than two years.

After August's consumer price index showed that headline inflation rose 0.1% month-on-month, despite a drop in gas prices throughout the period, Wednesday's primary focus will be last month's producer price index, which declined again as fuel costs continued to fall.

According to the Labor Department, the producer price index for final demand fell 0.1% from July, in line with consensus expectations. Compared with August 2021, the PPI was up 8.7%. Excluding food and energy, the producer price index rose 0.4% in August and was 7.3% higher than a year earlier.

Elsewhere on the macro front, US mortgage applications fell 1.2% week-on-week in the seven days ended 9 September, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, marking a fifth consecutive week of declines amid rising interest rates.

Applications to refinance a home loan fell 4.2%, easily erasing a 0.2% uptick in purchase applications, as the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances rose to 6.01% - the highest level seen since 2008.

Treasury yields were also in focus on Wednesday, with the benchmark 10-year note sitting at roughly 3.412% and the 2-year note surging more than 20 basis points to 3.802%.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Wednesday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Chevron Corp. (CVX) $163.27 2.42%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $164.55 2.06%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $160.28 1.38%
Boeing Co. (BA) $149.26 1.32%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $107.07 1.21%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $155.31 0.96%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $86.95 0.78%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $112.50 0.66%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $163.24 0.63%
American Express Co. (AXP) $156.30 0.61%