For the day, the Dow ended higher by 61.66 points (0.5%) at 13,390.51. Nasdaq ended higher by 14 points (0.45%) at 3,105.81. S&P 500 ended higher by 3.87 points (0.3%) at 1,461.02.
Among the ten economic sectors, health care led gains and telecommunications was the largest loser of its 10 major industry groups. Eighteen out of thirty Dow components ended higher for the day.
Boeing was the top gainer in the Dow, with shares of the aerospace firm rallying 3.6%, rebounding from their decline earlier in the week. Bank of America was the top decliner in the Dow, dropping 4.6% after the lender was downgraded to neutral from outperform by Credit Suisse for valuations reasons.
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The market place has been quieter this week amid the lack of major, fresh fundamental news developments. Traders and investors are wondering what the next moves will be by U.S. lawmakers and the Obama administration regarding taxing and spending measures. Most look for a big fight among the politicians, which is keeping a lot of speculative and investment money on the sidelines at present. Traders are awaiting Thursday's monthly European Central Bank meeting. Asian traders are awaiting a fresh batch of Chinese economic data due out later this week and during the weekend.
The U.S. dollar index was higher Wednesday. In the currency market, the dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies rose by 0.2% on Wednesday. The U.S. dollar gained on Wednesday, with the Japanese yen retracing a short-lived rebound and the euro losing ground on the eve of the European Central Bank's monthly policy meeting.
Among major stocks under focus, MasterCard climbed 2.2% after Goldman Sachs Group upgraded the payments network. Seagate Technology gained 6.6% after the company projected fiscal second-quarter sales above prior forecasts. Apple dropped 1.6%.
Today's economic data was limited to the MBA Mortgage index, which pointed to an 11.7% week-over-week increase in mortgage applications. This followed the prior week's decline of 10.4%.
Crude oil prices ended little lower on Wednesday, 09 January 2013 at Nymex.
Prices ended almost unchanged as traders digested the latest weekly inventory report from the energy department and the dollar also headed up. On Wednesday, light and sweet crude oil futures for light sweet crude for February delivery closed lower by $0.05 (0.05%) at $93.1/barrel.
In the latest weekly inventory report, the EIA reported today that crude supplies climbed by 1.3 million barrels for the week ended 4 January 2012. The increase generally matched expectations, with market expecting a 1.5 million-barrel increase. But motor gasoline supplies jumped 7.4 million barrels last week, and distillate inventories, which include heating oil, rose 6.8 million barrels. Market had forecast increases of 2.6 million barrels and 1.5 million barrels, respectively.
Bullion metals at Comex finished lower on Wednesday, 09 January 2013. Comex gold and silver futures prices ended moderately lower as the dollar climbed up strongly. Rise in equities at Wall Street also took some appeal away from bullions. Gold for February delivery fell $6.7 (0.4%) to settle at $1,655.5 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday. On Wednesday, March silver fell $0.22, or 0.7% to settle at $30.25 an ounce.
For every share falling just over two rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where nearly 672 million shares traded. Composite volume exceeded 3.6 billion.
Indian ADRs ended mostly higher on Wednesday. In the Banking space, ICICI Bank was up 0.7% and HDFC Bank was up 0.8%. In the IT space, Infosys was up 0.4% and Wipro was up 2.6%. In the Telecom space, MTNL was up 2.65% and Tata Communication was up 1.8%. In the other space, Sterlite was up 0.23%, Tata Motors was up 6.21%. Dr Reddys was up 0.5%.
For tomorrow, the initial and continuing claims will be the main economic reports expected for the day. Earning reports will continue to pour in.
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