Treasuries and oil fell while the dollar strengthened
U.S. stocks climbed after a two-day slump on Wednesday, 09 October 2013 amid optimism lawmakers will reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling and speculation Janet Yellen won't rush to withdraw stimulus when she takes over as Federal Reserve chairman. Treasuries and oil fell while the dollar strengthened.
After a 52-point drop and 76-point advance, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 26.45 points, or 0.2%, at 14,802.98. The Nasdaq Composite declined 17.06 points, or 0.5%, to 3,677.78. The S&P 500 index rose nearly 1 point, or nearly 0.1%, to 1,656.40.
The ten economic sectors had mixed finish with telecommunications the best performing and consumer discretionary the laggard among its 10 major industry sectors.
The Minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting reflected much of what has already been communicated to the markets by the regional Fed presidents. Once again, several participants took note of tighter financial conditions while others pointed out rising fiscal risks associated with the stalemate in Washington.
The latest FOMC minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting last month revealed a divisive committee, with the doves and hawks pleading their case. The committee expressed concern about shocks to the market place, including the U.S. budget impasse and looming debt ceiling. The majority of the FOMC members also reckoned the Fed would begin to scale back its monthly bond-buying program yet this year.
President Obama plans to nominate Federal Reserve Vice Chair Janet Yellen to the top spot of Chairman of the Fed.
The partial U.S. government shutdown drags on and is in its ninth day with still no serious movement from either Democrats or Republicans.
Among economic report expected for the day, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index rose 1.3% to follow last week's downtick of 0.4%.
Among major stocks under focus, shares of Hewlett-Packard rallied 8.9% after Chief Executive Meg Whitman said the company is poised to see pockets of growth in 2014. Alcoa rose 2% a day after the aluminum producer reported better-than-anticipated quarterly earnings.
Bullion metal prices fell on Wednesday, 09 October 2013 to settle at their lowest level in more than a week as a rally in the U.S. dollar dulled demand for the precious metal. Precious metals traded lower today as the dollar index rose on news that President Obama will nominate Janet Yellen as the next Chair of the Federal Reserve.
December gold slumped to a session low of $1294.60 per ounce and settled at $1307.10 per ounce, booking a loss of 1.3%. December silver dipped as low as $21.75 per ounce in morning floor trade. It eventually settled with a 2.5% loss at $21.89 per ounce.
Crude Oil futures dropped below $102 on Wednesday, 09 October 2013 to log their lowest settlement in more than three months after the U.S. government reported that crude supplies last week jumped about three times more than the market expected.
Crude oil for November delivery lost $1.88, or 1.8%, to settle at $101.61 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices traded around $102 shortly before the government supply report.
In the latest weekly inventory report, the EIA reported that crude stockpiles for the week ended Oct. 4 rose 6.8 million barrels. Market was looking for a climb of 2.2 million barrels. The EIA on Wednesday also said gasoline supplies rose 100,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell 3.1 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles were expected to rise 1.3 million barrels, while forecasts called for a decline of 1.9 million barrels for distillates.
Decliners just outpaced advancers on the New York Stock Exchange, where 732 million shares traded. Composite volume approached 3.6 billion shares.
Indian ADRs ended higher on Wednesday. In the IT space, Infosys rose 2.8% at $49.68 and Wipro added 0.6% at $10.42. In the banking space, HDFC Bank gained 2.9% at $32.91 and ICICI Bank jumped 2.46% at $31.25. In the other sectors, Tata Motors advanced 1.5% at $28.79 and Dr Reddys Laboratories was up 0.5% at $38.34.
Tomorrow, weekly initial claims will be reported at 8:30 ET while September import/export prices and the September Treasury Budget will not be released due to the partial government shutdown.
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