US Indexes Close Higher Wednesday

S&P; 500 gains 2.29% Continue reading... Read More...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 23,475.82 on Wednesday with a gain of 456.94 points or 1.99%. The S&P 500 closed at 2,799.31 for a gain of 62.75 points or 2.29%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 8,495.38 for a gain of 232.15 points or 2.81%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 42.11 for a loss of 3.30 points or -7.27%.

Wednesday’s market movers

Stocks rebounded from two days of losses Wednesday. Congress and the White House agreed on a nearly $500 billion deal to help hospitals and provide more funding to small businesses. President Trump has also announced he will halt certain immigration processes for 60 days and increase food stamp benefits. Coronavirus cases increased to around 806,000 in the U.S.

In the oil market, oil prices were slightly higher but oil storage continued to be a concern. West Texas Intermediate crude oil traded at around $13 per barrel. In California, oil tankers were reportedly stranded near there dropoff points, serving as holding tanks as storage capacity is nearly filled.

On the earnings calendar:

Snap (SNAP): Revenue of $462.47 million increased 44.3% year over year and beat estimates by $42.24 million. The first-quarter GAAP earnings loss of 21 cents was in line with estimates and a non-GAAP loss of 8 cents per share was also in line with estimates; the stock gained 36% Wednesday after reporting earnings Tuesday evening.
Delta Air Lines (DAL): Revenue of $8.59 billion decreased 18.0% year over year and missed estimates by $740 million. A first-quarter GAAP earnings loss 84 cents missed estimates by 16 cents and a non-GAAP loss of 51 cents beat estimates by 31 cents. Airlines were included in the economic stimulus package with $50 billion allocated for industry relief.
Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB): Revenue of $3.53 billion increased 1.1% year over year and beat estimates by $120 million. First-quarter GAAP earnings of $8.08 per share beat estimates by 50 cents and non-GAAP earnings of $9.14 beat estimates by $1.45.
AT&T (T): Revenue of $42.78 billion decreased 4.6% year over year and missed estimates by $1.37 billion. First-quarter GAAP earnings of 63 cents per share beat estimates by 1 cent and non-GAAP earnings of 84 cents missed estimates by 1 cent.

Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:

The MBA Mortgage Applications Index decreased 0.3%. The MBA’s average 30-year mortgage rate was unchanged at 3.45%.
The FHFA House Price Index increased 0.7% in February.
The EIA Weekly Petroleum Status report showed crude oil inventory up 15.022 million following an increase of 19.248 million in the previous week.

In the S&P 500, technology and energy led gains. In the S&P 100, the following stocks led gains and losses:

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) +10.47%
PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) +7.11%
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) +6.78%
Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) +6.50%
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) +6.43%
NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) +5.70%
Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) -9.42%
Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) -4.47%
United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) -3.30%
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) -3.18%

Small-cap stocks

In small caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,201.52 for a gain of 16.43 points or 1.39%. The S&P 600 closed at 698.74 for a gain of 6.08 points or 0.88%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 8,184.60 for a gain of 136.80 points or 1.70%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 5,886.46 for a gain of 9.19 points or 0.16%.

Other notable indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,512.86 for a gain of 22.28 points or 1.49%; the S&P 100 at 1,288.38 for a gain of 28.91 points or 2.30%; the Nasdaq 100 at 8,664.64 for a gain of 261.63 points or 3.11%; the Russell 3000 at 1,610.54 for a gain of 35.04 points or 2.22%; the Russell 1000 at 1,534.94 for a gain of 34.13 points or 2.27%; the Wilshire 5000 at 28,169.22 for a gain of 626.71 points or 2.28%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 552.56 for a gain of 8.49 points or 1.56%.

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This article first appeared on GuruFocus.