US markets will be closed on Thursday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday and will end trading at midday on Friday.
At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index advanced 95.96 points, or 0.28%, to 34,194.06 The S&P500 index was up 23.68 points, or 0.59%, to 4,027.26 The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index increased 110.91 points, or 1%, to 11,285.32. Nine of the index's 11 sectors gained ground, led by the consumer discretionary group.
Wall Street's major indexes landed a second consecutive day of gains following the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's November meeting. The report showed that the central bank sees progress in its fight to lower inflation and expects a moderation in its pace of interest rate hikes going forward to counter inflation.
Among individual stocks, Deere shares climbed after the heavy equipment maker boosted its 2023 profit outlook to a range of $8 billion to $8.5 billion.
Nordstrom shares fell after the upscale retailer cut its 2022 per-share earnings outlook to a range of $2.13 to $2.43.
Credit Suisse's US-listed shares fell after the bank under restructuring warned of a fourth-quarter loss of up to 1.5 billion Swiss francs ($1.6 billion).
ECONOMIC NEWS: Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 17,000 to a seasonally 240,000 for the week ended Nov. 19, the Labor Department said on Wednesday. Data for the prior week was revised to show 1,000 more applications filed than previously reported.
Durable goods orders rose 1% to $277.4 billion last month, up from a revised 0.3% bump in September, the Commerce Department reported. Transportation equipment led the increase, with orders for nondefense aircraft and components growing 7.4%. Meanwhile, orders for defense aircraft and parts soared 21.7% from September to October.
Consumer sentiment in November fell from the month prior, according to the University of Michigan's latest consumer survey released Wednesday. The reading was 56.8 in November as against 59.9 in October.
Among Indian ADR, INFOSYS was up 0.83% at $19.53, HDFC Bank added 1.06% to $68.72, ICICI Bank added 0.5% to $22.97, and Dr Reddy's Labs added 0.5% to $54.48. Azure Power Global gained 7.6% to $5.67. Wipro was down 0.4% to $4.81, WNS Holdings sank 1.8% to $84.24, and Tata Motors fell 0.1% to $25.92.
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