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Benchmarks closed in the positive territory on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled near-zero interest rates through 2023 despite improving economy and mounting inflation worries. Additionally, the Dow crossed the 33,000-mark for the first time yesterday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 189.42 points, or 0.6%, to close at 33,015.37 and the S&P 500 rose 11.41 points, or 0.3%, to close at 3,974.12. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 13,525.20, adding 53.64 points, or 0.4%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) decreased 2.8%, to close at 19.23. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones for 1.33-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.46-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq favored advancers.
How Did the Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow cleared another 1,000-point milestone on Wednesday, just five trading days after reaching the 32,000 milestone. The blue-chip index that closed the session 0.6% higher hit a new fresh intraday record of 33,047.58. The fastest move between milestones was supported by solid gains in bigwigs like The Boeing Company (BA - Free Report) and Caterpillar Inc. (CAT - Free Report) , that closed at least 3.2% higher. Caterpillarholds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The S&P 500 hit an intraday all-time high of 3,983.87 and six of its 11 major sectors closed in the green. The consumer discretionary and industrials sectors closed 1.4% and 1.1% higher for the session. However, a 1.6% drop in the utilities sectors capped gains for the broader index.
Th tech-laden Nasdaq also closed in the positive territory pushed by significant gain in giants like Baidu, Inc. (BIDU - Free Report) , Tesla, Inc. (TSLA - Free Report) , Micron Technology, Inc. (MU - Free Report) and Marriott International, Inc. (MAR - Free Report) that closed at least 3.5% higher on Wednesday.
Overall, the S&P 500 posted 44 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 124 new highs and 18 new lows. A total of 11.9 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, higher than the last 20-session average of 14.2 billion.
Fed to Hold Interest Rates Near Zero Through 2023
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve reported that it plans to hold its interest rates near-zero through 2023 and sharply ramped up its expectations for economic growth. Despite the improving economic outlook and inflation shooting up the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee will keep rates unchanged and continue the asset purchase program in which the central bank buys at least $120 billion of bonds a month.
Additionally, the central bank raised expectation of GDP growth to a 6.5% annual rate this year and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell emphasized on keeping the dovish policy till the labor market recovers.
Housing Starts & Building Permits Plunged in February
Per the U.S. Census Bureau’s report on Wednesday, home builders in the United States started construction of homes at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.421 million in February. Housing starts declined 10.3% last months and lags the consensus estimate of 1.561 million. The figure for January was upwardly revised to 1.584 million. There has be a significant slowdown in construction of single-family homes and multifamily buildings, 8.5% and 14.5%, respectively and housing starts were down 9.3% compared to the same period a year ago. The Northeast region reported the biggest drop in housing starts, i.e., 40%, followed by 35% and 10% drop in the Midwest and South. The heavy declined overshadowed a 17.6% increase in the Western region.
In the same report, the Census Bureau said that building permits for new homes came at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.682 million in January, lagging the consensus estimate of 1.763 million and January’s upwardly revised figure of 1.886 million. Permits declined 10.8% from January, however it has increase 17% from a year ago.
The report also stated that the winter storm that crippled much of the state of Texas caused a serious slowdown in home-building activity last month. Additionally, builders are constantly facing challenges in the supply-side, especially high lumber costs.
Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021
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Last year's 2020 Zacks Top 10 Stocks portfolio returned gains as high as +386.8%. Now a brand-new portfolio has been handpicked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these long-term buys.
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Stock Market News for Mar 18, 2021
Benchmarks closed in the positive territory on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled near-zero interest rates through 2023 despite improving economy and mounting inflation worries. Additionally, the Dow crossed the 33,000-mark for the first time yesterday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 189.42 points, or 0.6%, to close at 33,015.37 and the S&P 500 rose 11.41 points, or 0.3%, to close at 3,974.12. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 13,525.20, adding 53.64 points, or 0.4%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) decreased 2.8%, to close at 19.23. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones for 1.33-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.46-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq favored advancers.
How Did the Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow cleared another 1,000-point milestone on Wednesday, just five trading days after reaching the 32,000 milestone. The blue-chip index that closed the session 0.6% higher hit a new fresh intraday record of 33,047.58. The fastest move between milestones was supported by solid gains in bigwigs like The Boeing Company (BA - Free Report) and Caterpillar Inc. (CAT - Free Report) , that closed at least 3.2% higher. Caterpillarholds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The S&P 500 hit an intraday all-time high of 3,983.87 and six of its 11 major sectors closed in the green. The consumer discretionary and industrials sectors closed 1.4% and 1.1% higher for the session. However, a 1.6% drop in the utilities sectors capped gains for the broader index.
Th tech-laden Nasdaq also closed in the positive territory pushed by significant gain in giants like Baidu, Inc. (BIDU - Free Report) , Tesla, Inc. (TSLA - Free Report) , Micron Technology, Inc. (MU - Free Report) and Marriott International, Inc. (MAR - Free Report) that closed at least 3.5% higher on Wednesday.
Overall, the S&P 500 posted 44 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 124 new highs and 18 new lows. A total of 11.9 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, higher than the last 20-session average of 14.2 billion.
Fed to Hold Interest Rates Near Zero Through 2023
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve reported that it plans to hold its interest rates near-zero through 2023 and sharply ramped up its expectations for economic growth. Despite the improving economic outlook and inflation shooting up the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee will keep rates unchanged and continue the asset purchase program in which the central bank buys at least $120 billion of bonds a month.
Additionally, the central bank raised expectation of GDP growth to a 6.5% annual rate this year and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell emphasized on keeping the dovish policy till the labor market recovers.
Housing Starts & Building Permits Plunged in February
Per the U.S. Census Bureau’s report on Wednesday, home builders in the United States started construction of homes at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.421 million in February. Housing starts declined 10.3% last months and lags the consensus estimate of 1.561 million. The figure for January was upwardly revised to 1.584 million. There has be a significant slowdown in construction of single-family homes and multifamily buildings, 8.5% and 14.5%, respectively and housing starts were down 9.3% compared to the same period a year ago. The Northeast region reported the biggest drop in housing starts, i.e., 40%, followed by 35% and 10% drop in the Midwest and South. The heavy declined overshadowed a 17.6% increase in the Western region.
In the same report, the Census Bureau said that building permits for new homes came at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.682 million in January, lagging the consensus estimate of 1.763 million and January’s upwardly revised figure of 1.886 million. Permits declined 10.8% from January, however it has increase 17% from a year ago.
The report also stated that the winter storm that crippled much of the state of Texas caused a serious slowdown in home-building activity last month. Additionally, builders are constantly facing challenges in the supply-side, especially high lumber costs.
Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021
In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 best buy-and-hold tickers for the entirety of 2021?
Last year's 2020 Zacks Top 10 Stocks portfolio returned gains as high as +386.8%. Now a brand-new portfolio has been handpicked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these long-term buys.
Access Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021 today >>