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- The Dow closed at a record high on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell expressed his support for continued low interest rates.
- In a speech to the Economic Club of New York, Powell said addressing the current economic environment will require “patiently accommodative monetary policy.”
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high on Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell delivered a speech to the Economic Club of New York. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both closed lower.
Powell stressed that accommodative monetary policy is still necessary to combat the economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Fully realizing the benefits of a strong labor market will take continued support from both near-term policy and longer-run investments,” Powell said.
Powell sees the actual US unemployment rate closer to 10% due to the recent reduction in the labor force, which is nearly double the official rate of 6.3%.
The Dow traded higher, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were slightly lower.
Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Wednesday:
- S&P 500: 3,909.90, down 0.03%
- Dow Jones industrial average: 31,438.40, up 0.2% (62.57 points)
- Nasdaq composite: 13,972.53, down 0.25%
Another surge in dogecoin occured on Wednesday after Elon Musk once again tweeted about it, saying that he bought some for his son.
Pacific Biosciences soared as much as 25% after Softbank said it invested $900 million in the diagnostics company.
Better than expected corporate earnings from Lyft and Twitter sparked a 11% and 16% surge in their stock prices, respectively.
The SPAC craze showed no sign of slowing down on Wednesday, with former NFL player Colin Kaepernick launching his own SPAC, seeking to raise $250 million to fund a $1 billion acquisition of a firm with a social purpose.
Electric truck developer Rivian, a rival to Tesla, is reportedly seeking an IPO this year, which could give it a valuation of at least $50 billion.
Cannabis stocks continued their surge higher on Wednesday as hopes for US legalization under a Biden administration continued.
Oil prices rose. West Texas Intermediate crude jumped 0.27%, to $58.52 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, gained 0.26%, to $61.25 per barrel, at intraday highs.
Gold rose 0.26%, to $1,842.30 per ounce.