S&P 500 closes at record high as FOMC minutes show little changes to rate outlook
- The S&P 500 closed at a record high on Wednesday as minutes from the last FOMC meeting signaled minimal changes to the central bank's narrative on inflation, interest rates, and asset purchases.
- The minutes showed officials are continuing to make progress towards reaching the threshold to scale back asset purchases.
- The yield on the US 10-year Treasury fell as low as 1.295%, the lowest point since late February.
The S&P 500 closed at a record high on Wednesday amid falling Treasury yields as minutes from the Federal Reserve's June meeting showed policymakers are continuing to make progress towards reaching their threshold to scaling back asset purchases.
The minutes showed that several participants are still uncertain about the outlook for growth and inflation, saying it's "too early to draw firm conclusions about the paths of the labor market and inflation." Fed officials also discussed tapering asset purchases but there was no consensus on the timeline.
Here's where US indexes stood at the 4 p.m. ET close on Wednesday:
- S&P 500: 4,358.13, up 0.3%
- Dow Jones industrial average: 34,681.79, up 0.3% (104 points)
- Nasdaq composite: 14,665.06, up 0.01%
"We didn't expect much from today's FOMC Minutes, and our expectations were met. The majority of the new information delivered by the Fed was already distributed to the markets via the Summary of Economic Projections and the 'dots'," said economists from Jefferies.
Jefferies expects more details on the future of policy to emerge from the Fed's meeting at Jackson Hole later this summer.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury fell as low as 1.295%, the lowest point since late February.
The S&P 500 has hit a record closing high in eight of the past nine trading days.
Amid massive US stimulus and record high stocks, BlackRock strategists have switched to a neutral stance on US stocks while upgrading their views on European and Japanese equities, which they see as growing beneficiaries from the further reopenings of economies shut down by the COVID-19 crisis. The BlackRock Investment Institute outlined, among other items, its six to 12-month tactical views on selected assets in a mid-year report released Wednesday.
Bitcoin traded just under $35,000 on Wednesday after briefly overtaking the level.
Oil prices recovered after falling on Tuesday, despite rising sharply earlier in the day after a meeting between the OPEC+ group of oil-producing countries was abruptly called off.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell as much as 3.1%, to $71.07 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, dropped 2.6%, to $72.60 per barrel, at intraday lows.
Gold climbed as much as 0.7%, to $1,810 per ounce.