Wall Street

[mirza ally]

Wall St rises ahead on Fed Minutes

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average inched up on Wednesday as financial stocks rose ahead of the release of the minutes of Federal Reserve's September policy meeting.

The Nasdaq was kept in check by a drop in Cisco (O:CSCO) and Microsoft (O:MSFT) shares.

The highlight of the meeting was an increase in the number of board members who voted in favor of a rate hike to three from one. The minutes to be released at 2:00 p.m. ET (1800 GMT) will provide further clues on the possibility of a hike this year.

Traders have priced in small odds of a rate increase in November as the meeting falls days ahead of the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. The odds rise to nearly 71 percent for a move in December, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

The S&P 500 financial index (SPSY) rose 0.56 percent, helped by gains in Wells Fargo (N:WFC) and other banks. Berkshire Hathaway (N:BRKa) gave the biggest boost to the sector.

The dollar (DXY), which would also benefit from higher rates, rose to a seven-month high against a basket of major currencies.


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Mirza
PCM Brokers DMCC
Executive Coordinator

[mirza ally]

Wall st closes lower as Dow records third straight day of loss

Wall St closed lower on Wednesday, as energy stocks weighed, after oil prices slumped more than 5% while investors digested a better than expected ADP report ahead of Non-farm payrolls.

Energy stocks were the main laggards of the session, as oil posted its worst day in 13 months, after crude oil inventories rose much larger than expected.

Meanwhile, a bullish ADP report boosted expectations the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates at its next meeting in March and lifted optimism for a better than expected Non-Farm Payrolls print on Friday.

ADP and Moody’s analysis said Wednesday, employment in the private sector climbed by 298,000 for the month, which dwarfed economists’ expectations of 190,000.

According to Fed rate monitor tool, nearly 90% of traders expect a rate hike in March, compared to just under 80% last week.