U.S. Indices Hit New Records On Tech, Healthcare

Stocks ended in record territory Wednesday, riding speculation the Federal Reserve is unlikely to pull the punch bowl of quantitative easing anytime soon. The Dow Jones Industrial Index again closed at a new record while the Standard & Poor's 500 breached its intraday high of 1,576.09 set in October 2007, now more than doubling in value since sinking to a 12-year low in March 2009. All 10 industry sectors in the S&P 500 advanced, led by technology shares. Financial and healthcare stocks also posted strong gains. Treasuries lost ground while commodities were mixed.

Fed Minutes
Federal Reserve officials released minutes of the March Federal Open Markets Committee meeting five hours early at 9 a.m. ET after they were mistakenly released to Congress members and selected trade groups via email Tuesday afternoon prompting speculation that the early release also helped trigger Tuesday's late-day rally in stocks.

Several FOMC members said the central bank should begin tapering its bond-buying program later this year and stop it by the end of 2013 if labor market conditions improve. One member wanted to slow the bond purchases immediately. But that was before government data last week showed the weakest jobs growth in nine months during March as well as other below-expectations economic reports in recent days.

Obama's Budget
President Obama, Wednesday, unveiled his budget blueprint that would trim federal spending from current projections by $1.8 trillion over the next 10 years, including an estimated $230 billion in savings using "chained CPI" to calculate annual increases for Social Security and other government payments. He also called on more spending on education and infrastructure projects and increasing taxes for the wealthiest Americans, including a hike in the rate for carried interest income and ending more than $4 billion a year in subsidies for the oil and gas industry.

Earlier, European and most Asian stocks ended higher following reports China swung to a trade deficit in March, missing forecasts expecting for a $14.7 bln surplus, as domestic consumption led a surge in imports and export grew less than expected. Bank of Japan officials also reiterated their stimulus plans, also supporting gains for overseas equities.

Commodities were mixed with crude oil for May delivery reversing small declines to settle 44 cents higher at $94.64 per barrel. May natural gas was up 7 cents at $4.09 per 1 mln BTU. June gold dropped $27.90 to $1,558.40 per ounce while May silver fell 23 cents to settle at $27.65 per ounce. May copper lost 2 cents to finish at $3.43 per pound.

Here's Where The U.S. Markets Stood At Day's End

• Dow Jones Industrials up 128.78 (+0.88%) to 14,802.24
• S&P 500 up 19.12 (+1.22%) to 1,587.73
• Nasdaq Composite up 59.39 (+1.83%) to 3,297.25

• Hang Seng Index up 0.73%
• Shanghai China Composite Index down 0.29%
• FTSE 100 Index up 0.01%

• (+) OXGN, Exploring whether to seek marketing approval in the EU under exceptional or conditional circumstances for its Zybrestat drug candidate to treat anaplastic thyroid cancer. A final decision by EU authorities is expected by October.
• (+) DRWI, Renewed operational framework with Nokia Siemens Networks and will continue to be the preferred, strategic supplier to Nokia Siemens Networks of packet microwave and related products.
• (+) MTL, Stock lifted after the company signed an agreement with VTB Bank for a 40-billion-ruble (approximately 1.3-billion-dollar) loan that will be used to refinance MTL's current debt.

• (-) HMA, Guides Q1 diluted earnings of between $0.12 to $0.13 per share, well under the $0.21 per share profit analysts are expecting for the hospital operator. It also expects to post quarterly revenue of $1.48 bln, trailing the analyst consensus by around $270 mln.
• (-) TITN, Reports Q4 revenue of $784.5 million, vs. the analyst consensus of $694 million on Capital IQ. EPS was $0.73, below the Street view of $0.92 per share.
• (-) ABX, Chilean court suspends work on gold-silver mine project in the Andes following complaints of potential water and air pollution.