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S&P 500, Nasdaq post record closing highs after Fed minutes

Published 07/07/2021, 07:06 AM
Updated 07/07/2021, 07:01 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The New York Stock Exchange is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., April 16, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The New York Stock Exchange is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., April 16, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched record closing highs after minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting indicated officials may not be ready yet to move on tightening policy.

According to the minutes of the U.S. central bank's June policy meeting, Fed officials felt substantial further progress on the economic recovery "was generally seen as not having yet been met," but agreed they should be poised to act if inflation or other risks materialized.

"I read this as effectively a dovish set of notes simply because they don't feel as a group that they have enough certainty around the situation to make any changes at all," said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial Network in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Treasury yields edged lower following the Fed minutes, while stocks mostly edged higher.

The minutes reflected a divided Fed wrestling with new inflation risks but still relatively high unemployment.

After its meeting and statement last month, investors began to anticipate the Fed would move more quickly to tighten than previously expected.

Wall Street has been concerned about inflation, with investors moving between economy-linked value stocks and growth names in the past few sessions.

Both growth and value stocks gained on Wednesday, while industrials and materials led S&P 500 sector gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 104.42 points, or 0.3%, to 34,681.79, the S&P 500 gained 14.59 points, or 0.34%, to 4,358.13 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.42 points, or 0.01%, to 14,665.06.

(Graphic: nasdaq, spx outperform, dow lags, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/oakvedjmbpr/MicrosoftTeams-image%20(14).png)

China's market regulator said it has fined a number of internet companies including Didi Global, Tencent and Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) for failing to report earlier merger and acquisition deals for approval.

U.S.-listed shares of Didi fell 4.6%, adding to a nearly 20% slump on Tuesday.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.02-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.92-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The New York Stock Exchange is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., April 16, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

The S&P 500 posted 71 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 84 new highs and 121 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.04 billion shares, compared with the 10.7 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Latest comments

May Mr Market kisses ur tps before reading positive news😊
Bears and doomsdayers- have fun staying poor
FOMC..fear of missing control..congrats to thr FED for making many technical indicators and analysis like a joke
Why don't you writers stop acting like you didn't know it's FED keeping these indexes going on.
Another round of criminal intervention this morning, as another loss is whisked out of the system, flagrantly as can be.  The biggest investment joke in the world continues to defraud America in broad daylight.
Again.         Company talks about record high, Lets look over facts. 1) 2nd largest unemployment all time. 2) No one going back to work. 3) people using savings- Ira's to pay mortgage 4) Gas price have gone up, Thank you for Telling, American public to buy gas guzzling SUV'S 5) Building material gone through all time high.  6) American Government, Spent more money in last year, then 20 combine. 7) American Public spending on family, No money left over for investing. 8) Millions haven't even been processed for unemployment by States , Because they are on Unemployment. Close to 2-3 million per state, Hasn't been processed yet. We can go on and on , But main question to this Day, Who's Buying. Doesn't this raise Red flags anywhere?. Robin Hood was dealt with weeks end. Where's S.E.C In al this?.   So in Hine sight, Guess who's pumping Future index up?. Hint, Starts with a (G) . ALL TIME HIGH on fundamentals. Yeah right!!!.
Fed Desperately Trying to Keep Investors on the Titanic
1hr out of date
more like Fed boost...
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