3 Minutes to Read (Reuters) – NEW YORK (Reuters) – After minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve meeting suggested authorities may not be ready to act on tightening policy yet, U.S. markets closed higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq setting new closing highs. PHOTO FROM THE FILE: On April 16, 2021, the New York Stock Exchange is seen in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, United States. Carlo Allegri/Reuters According to the minutes of the Fed’s June policy meeting, officials judged that considerable further progress on the economic recovery “was largely assessed as not having yet been met,” but agreed that they should be ready to intervene if inflation or other dangers developed. “I view this as a dovish set of notes simply because they don’t believe they have enough assurance around the issue as a group to make any adjustments,” said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial Network in Waltham, Massachusetts. Following the release of the Fed minutes, Treasury rates fell somewhat, but stocks rose mostly. The minutes revealed a Fed that was split on how to deal with increased inflation threats while yet having relatively high unemployment. Investors began to expect the Fed to tighten more quickly than previously thought after its meeting and announcement last month. Investors have been shifting between economy-linked value equities and growth names in recent sessions, indicating that Wall Street is anxious about inflation. On Wednesday, both growth and value stocks rose, with industrials and materials leading the S&P 500 sector gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 104.42 points, or 0.3 percent, to 34,681.79, the S&P 500 increased by 14.59 points, or 0.34 percent, to 4,358.13, and the Nasdaq Composite increased by 1.42 points, or 0.01 percent, to 14,665.06. (Graphic: nasdaq outperforms, spx lags, dow lags, ) A number of internet businesses, including Didi Global, Tencent, and Alibaba, have been punished by China’s market regulator for neglecting to notify past merger and acquisition arrangements for clearance. Didi’s shares on the New York Stock Exchange plummeted 4.6 percent, extending a nearly 20% drop on Tuesday. On the NYSE, declining issues outweighed advancing ones by a 1.02-to-1 ratio, while on the Nasdaq, decliners were favored by a 1.92-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 made 71 new 52-week highs while the Nasdaq Composite made 84 new highs and 121 new lows. The total number of shares traded on US exchanges was 10.04 billion, compared to the 10.7 billion average for the prior 20 trading days. Devik Jain and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru and Lewis Krauskopf in New York contributed additional reporting; Arun Koyyur, Maju Samuel, and David Gregorio edited the piece./n
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