The headline index on the US stock market ended the day with new record on Wednesday, April 10, 2013, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 index both hit all-time high, after the latest minutes from the US Federal Reserve indicated weak payroll figures would delay its QE scale back.
Markets took encouragement from the release of minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's March meeting, , which showed a majority of policymakers in favor of continuing the central bank bond purchases later in the year and halt it altogether by year-end if the labor market improves. However, the meeting came before a government report last week said U.S. payrolls in March expanded at their slowest pace in nine months, a dismal read that could affect future Fed moves.
At the close of business, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 128.78 (0.88%) to 14,802.24, a new all-time closing high. The broad-based S&P 500 surged 19.12 (1.22%) higher to 1,587.73, also a record. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 59.39 (1.83%) to 3,297.25, reaching its highest level since November 2000.
All 10 industries in the S&P 500 rose, lead by technology and health-care stocks. Most of the blue-chip companies in the Dow recorded gains, with biggest winners were General Electric (+2.2%), Intel (+2.4%), Merck (+2.9%), Pfizer (+2.8%) and Microsoft (+2.3%).Top Nasdaq companies also scored, with Apple was up 2% and Google 1.6%, while added 3.3% and Micron Technology surged 5.4%.
Technology stocks rose the most of the 10 industry groups in the S&P, with Facebook rose 3.7% to $27.57 after General Motors said it would start running ads on the social network site. Adtran rose 14% to $22.46 and JDS Uniphase rose 4.8% to $13.98.
Hospital stocks fell heavily after Deutsche Bank lowered its recommendation on the companies because their prices have risen so much that they no longer offer good value. Private hospitals have surged over the past year in anticipation that health care spending will increase after President Barack Obama's health care plan starts. Health Management Associates plunged 16% to $10.53, Tenet Healthcare 5.5% to $41.14, and Community Health Systems 3.8% to $42.26.
Among individual performer, Juniper Networks shares rose 4.7% to $18.84 after Belgacom selected the company's T bandwidth capabilities, which will help cope with the explosion in online video traffic and the use of mobile devices to access the internet.
Thermo Fisher Scientific rose 3.8% to $81.34 after it made a binding offer of more than $65 a share for genetic testing equipment maker Life Technologies ahead of a deadline on Tuesday.
Barrick Gold sank 8.4% after a Chilean court suspended the company's Pascua Lama gold mine due to environmental concerns.
In currency markets, the euro was nearly unchanged at $1.3055 from $1.3058 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar fell to 99.56 yen from 99.76 yen.
Indian ADRs ended higher on Wednesday. In the IT space, Infosys advanced 3% and Wipro was up 5%. In the Banking space, HDFC Bank climbed up 4.5% and ICICI Bank was up 5.4%. In the Telecom space, Tata Communication grew 2%. In other space, Tata Motors was up 5.3%, Dr Reddys was up 1.1% and Sterlite was up 1.4%.
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