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The U.S. stock market benchmark indexes S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average closed slightly higher on Wednesday, April 7, 2020, after the Federal Reserve released minutes of the March 16-17 meeting. Technology and financial stocks rallied the most on the S&P 500 and Dow Jones, while the decline in energy, basic materials and healthcare stocks pushed NASDAQ to close lower.
The S&P 500 rose 0.15 percent to 4,079.95. The Dow Jones was slightly up 0.05 percent to 33,446.26. The NASDAQ Composite Index slipped 0.07 percent to 13,688.84 while the small-cap Russell 2000 fell 1.60 percent to 2,223.05.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday released the minutes of the March 16-17 meeting that reportedly indicated its optimism in a strong economic recovery while agreeing to continue its support by keeping interest rates lower for some time. In March, the Fed raised its 2021 median outlook for GDP to 6.5 percent from 4.2 percent projected in December. The Fed also said that the consumer price inflation through January remained well below 2 percent.
Meanwhile, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, who met virtually on Wednesday, said they are committed to reach an agreement on the global taxation agenda by the mid of this year. Two days ago, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for a minimum cooperate income tax.
Source: Pixabay
Top Gainers
Top performers on S&P 500 were L Brands Inc. (3.63%), Twitter Inc. (2.97%), Essex Property Trust Inc. (2.53%) and Facebook Inc. (2.23%).
On Dow Jones, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (1.57%), Apple Inc. (1.34%), Intel Corp. (1.05%) and Microsoft Corp. (0.82%) gained the most.
Bonso Electronics International Inc. (44.59%), Recon Technology Ltd. (19.29%), Seelos Therapeutics Inc. (18.18%) and Pintec Technology Holdings Ltd. (17.54%) were top performers on NASDAQ.
Top Losers
Top laggards on S&P 500 were Albemarle Corp. (6.01%), Enphase Energy Inc. (5.01%), Trimble Inc. (3.84%) and PPG Industries Inc. (3.65%).
On Dow Jones, Walt Disney Co. (1.14%), Boeing Co. (1.02%), Dow Inc. (0.94%) and Cisco Systems Inc. (0.49%) were laggards.
FibroGen Inc. (43.01%), Homology Medicines Inc. (22.80%), Galectin Therapeutics Inc. (15.00%) and The9 Ltd. (14.92%) were among top losers on NASDAQ.
Image Source: EODHD/Others, S&P 500 April 7, 2021 price chart
Volume Movers
Top volume movers on Wednesday are ViacomCBS Inc. (18.99M), Castor Maritime Inc. (18.38M), Apple Inc. (15.69M), Odonate Therapeutics Inc. (14.51M), Sundial Growers Inc. (13.02M) and Carnival Corp. (11.42M).
Futures & Commodities
Gold futures were down 0.27 percent to US$ 1,738.35 per ounce on Wednesday. Silver fell 0.13 percent to US$ 25.195 per ounce while copper declined 1.36 percent to US$ 4.0607.
Brent oil futures rose 0.06 percent to US$ 63.09 per barrel and WTI crude inched up 0.39 percent to US$ 59.56 per barrel.
Bond Market
The 30-year Treasury bond yield grew 2.12 percent to 2.365 while the 10-year bond yield was up 1.40 percent to 1.679.
US Dollar Futures Index also inched up 0.08 percent on Wednesday evening to US$ 92.418.
