Trader Fred DeMarco, left, and specialist Meric Greenbaum work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021. Stocks were modestly higher in morning trading Wednesday, helped by higher energy prices which in turn pushed energy companies higher. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
By Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga
Energy and technology companies helped lift stocks on Wall Street broadly higher Wednesday, reversing the market's pullback from a day earlier.
The S&P 500 rose 0.8% after another day of choppy trading. It was the biggest daily gain for the benchmark index since late August and it put the S&P 500 on pace to close the week higher.
About 80% of stocks in the index rose. Energy companies did particularly well as prices for crude oil and natural gas climbed, and Microsoft helped pull the tech sector higher after announcing a dividend increase and a new stock buyback program. Health care and financial stocks also made solid gains. Utilities, which investors tend to shun when they’re more willing to take on risk, were the only sector to fall.
The rally marked the latest reversal for the market this month, which has been characterized by choppy trading and small moves, usually ending with stocks finishing lower, but still near their recent all-time highs. Stocks fell Friday, rose Monday and then fell again on Tuesday.
“We’ve just retraced some of the weakness that we’ve seen the past few days," said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at All Star Charts. "In aggregate, the median stock hasn’t really gone anywhere in six months.”
The S&P 500 rose 37.65 points to 4,480.70. The index is within 1.3% of its all-time high set Sept. 2. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 236.82 points, or 0.7%, to 34,814.39. The Nasdaq composite added 123.77 points, or 0.8%, to 15,161.53. Small-company stocks did even better with the Russell 2000 index gaining 24.46 points, or 1.1%, to 2,234.45.
U.S. government bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.30% from 1.27% late Tuesday. Banks benefitted from the higher yields, which allow them to charge more lucrative interest rates on loans. Citigroup rose 2.4% and Capital One Financial gained 2.9%.
Oil prices rose 3.1% and natural gas prices rose 3.8% as the oil and gas industry continues to sort through the damage caused by hurricane season in the Gulf. Disruptions have been more pronounced than originally expected, and there’s been some oil spills from some refineries.
ExxonMobil gained 3.4%, while Occidental Petroleum climbed 6.1% and Marathon Oil finished 7.7% higher.
Casino stocks slumped following reports of a possible crackdown on the industry by Chinese officials in Macau, the former Portuguese colony and gambling center. Wynn Resorts fell 6.3% for the biggest drop in the S&P 500, while MGM Resorts fell 2.5% and Las Vegas Sands slid 1.7%.
Investors have been navigating a choppy market as they try to determine how rising cases of COVID-19 because of the highly contagious delta variant will impact economic growth. The employment market has been slow to recover and consumer spending has been tempered in recent months.
Wall Street will get more information on jobs and consumer spending on Thursday when the Labor Department releases its weekly report on unemployment benefits and the Commerce Department releases retail sales data for August.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
