Materials paced sector gains and utilities was the only laggard
US stocks ended with little gains at Wall Street on Wednesday, 17 July 2013. It was a relatively quiet trading session. While stocks began the session in the black after the prepared remarks from Ben Bernanke's testimony in front of the House Financial Services Committee, worse than expected economic report, mainly on the housing front, kept gains under check.
For the day, the Dow industrials gained 18.67 points, or 0.1%, to 15,470.52. The S&P 500 rose 4.65 points, or 0.3%, to 1,680.91. The Nasdaq Composite gained 11.50 points, or 0.3%, to 3,610.
On a sectoral basis, materials paced sector gains and utilities was the only laggard.
Prepared remarks from Ben Bernanke's testimony in front of the House Financial Services Committee provided an opening boost to stocks today. Mr. Bernanke's comments were in-line with previous statements, indicating the Federal Reserve plans to base its decisions on the incoming data. The Fed Chairman expounded on this by saying asset purchases could be scaled back if economic conditions improve faster than expected, and inflation rises towards the Fed's objective. However, if financial conditions were to tighten, the current pace of purchases could be maintained or increased.
Also of note, The Federal Reserve's July Beige Book was generally in-line with reports from prior months. The Beige Book indicated that pricing pressures remain contained and housing continues on a 'moderate to strong' pace.
Among major stocks under focus, DuPont's shares rallied 5.3% after reports that Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management LP has acquired a large stake in the chemicals firm. Shares of Bank of America climbed 2.8% after the bank said second-quarter profit jumped 63%, beating analyst estimates.
American Express was the top decliner in the Dow, falling 1.9% after reports cited a draft plan in reporting the European Commission had proposed the introduction of a 0.2% cap on debit-and-credit-card transaction fees. Caterpillar dropped 1.7%.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, rose by 0.08% on Wednesday.
Among economic data expected at Wall Street today, housing starts hit an annualized rate of 836,000 units during June. Market had expected for housing starts to hit an annual rate closer to 958,000. The large miss was mostly due to 26.2% decline in multi-family units while single-family starts declined by 0.8%.
Separately, today's weekly MBA Mortgage Index decreased 2.6% to follow last week's decline of 4.0%. While the weekly reading can be quite volatile, this was the fifth negative reading in a row and the ninth decline out of the past ten weeks.
On the New York Stock Exchange, more than 676 million shares traded. Composite volume topped 3.1 billion.
Tomorrow weekly initial claims will be reported at 8:30 ET while the June leading indicators and July Philadelphia Fed Survey will be released at 10:00 ET. On the earnings front, UnitedHealth Group and Verizon will report their quarterly results before the opening bell. In addition, the second half of the Humphrey Hawkins testimony will take place with Ben Bernanke appearing in front of the Senate Finance Committee.
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