Wall Street ended higher on Wednesday as market participants assessed the Federal Reserve’s rate outlook and economic data. The Nasdaq Composite, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended in positive territory.
How Did the Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.7%, or 341.11 points, to close at 51,180.17. Ten components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory; 10 ended in negative territory. The major gainer of the Dow was Amgen Inc. AMGN. The stock price of this biopharmaceutical company rose 2.6%. Amgen currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2% to close at 27,538.69.
The S&P 500 gained 0.2% to end at 7,801.75. Out of the 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index, four ended in positive territory, while seven was in negative territory. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV), the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) and the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) rose 1.1%, 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively, while the Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI) fell 2.1%.
The fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), increased by 0.5% to 15.08. A total of 16.21 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 17.57 billion. The S&P 500 posted nine new 52-week highs and 12 new lows, and the Nasdaq Composite recorded 32 new highs and 250 new lows.
Fed Officials Diverge on Rate Path
Federal Reserve officials project another interest rate hike by the end of 2026, but have yet to pin down the exact timing in the face of an uncertain economy. The divide between Fed officials — some focused on rising energy prices and supply-chain pressures, others concerned that stronger demand would keep inflation elevated. — was evident from the minutes of their September meeting. The 25-basis-point rate hike was seen by most officials as appropriate before the end of the year, with further action depending on the latest economic data.
Economic Data
Per a government report, for the week ended Oct. 2, 2026, Commercial crude oil inventories (excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) decreased 3.2 million bpd to 424.1million bpd.
The Federal Reserve reported that consumer credit rose by $8.3 billion in August, in contrast to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of an increase of $13.9 billion. The metric for July was revised marginally downward to $17.7 billion from $18.1 billion reported earlier.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).