Stocks close higher despite go-slow Fed, poor Prime Day showing
U.S. stocks traded higher Wednesday even as meeting minutes showed Federal Reserve officials are still in no hurry to cut interest rates.
The broad S&P 500 added 37.74 points, 0.6%, to close at 6,263.26. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 217.54 points, or 0.5%, to 44,458.3. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.9%, adding 192.88 points to 20,611.34.
Minutes from the central bank's June 17-18 policy meeting showed most policymakers in favor of cutting borrowing costs this year, but few in favor of starting that process in July. Fed Chair Jerome Powell and many other Fed members have leaned towards waiting to see how high Trump's tariffs will go and how they will affect inflation before deciding on the next interest rate move.
President Donald Trump extended the deadline for a deal to avoid reciprocal tariffs to Aug 1 from July 9 and said he planned to put a 50% tariff on copper imports and a levy on pharmaceuticals. Copper prices soared to record highs on the tariff news.
In other Fed news, the Wall Street Journal reported that National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett is now a serious contender to succeed Powell as Fed chair, along with former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury note slid 7 basis points in the afternoon, to near 4.342%.
Cryptocurrency
Japanese firm Metaplanet plans to use its bitcoin stash to make acquisitions, including a digital bank in Japan, according to the Financial Times.
Metaplanet started buying bitcoin to hedge against inflation in 2024. Now, it holds 15,555 bitcoin and aims to boost its holdings to more than 210,000 bitcoin by 2027. Bitcoin was trading sharply higher as stocks closed in the afternoon, near $111,713.
Corporate news
- Nvidia shares rose more than 2% as the chipmaker became the first publicly traded company to hit the $4 trillion mark.
- Amazon stock closed 1.4% higher even as multiple media reports suggested the company's closely-watched Prime Days had seen a steep plunge in sales.
- UnitedHealth's Medicare billing practices are being investigated by the Department of Justice's criminal healthcare-fraud unit, according to the Wall Street Journal. The stock fell nearly 2% on Wednesday.
- WWP said clients were pulling back on spending and the ad company lowered its annual profit outlook.
- Big banks including top U.S. names like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs are likely to have gained 10% in trading revenue as investors reacted to market volatility caused by U.S. tariff policies, according to estimates released by analysis firm Crisil Coalition Greenwich. Banks will kick off the second quarter earnings season next week.