The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.53 per cent, to 35,273.03, the S&P 500 jumped 0.41 per cent to 4,556.62 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.46 per cent to 14,265.86
Stocks gained Wednesday after yields briefly dropped to their lowest level in two months, and the November market rally widened going into the Thanksgiving holiday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 184.74 points, or 0.53 per cent, to 35,273.03. The S&P 500 jumped 0.41 per cent to 4,556.62. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.46 per cent to 14,265.86.
Over half of the stocks trading on the New York Stock Exchange were higher on Wednesday, suggesting widening breadth for the market rally. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also saw higher participation, with 62.9 per cent of the stocks in the index gaining. Small – and mid-caps outperformed Wednesday, gaining 0.7 per cent and 0.6 per cent, respectively.
In the meantime, the energy sector shed 0.1 per cent Wednesday after OPEC delayed a meeting on production cuts originally scheduled for the weekend. Marathon Oil, EOG Resources and Devon Energy all ended lower.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly dropped to 4.369 per cent Wednesday morning, the lowest level since September 22. It later recovered and was last little changed at 4.41 per cent. This also marks a significant decline for 10-year yield after it surpassed the 5 per cent mark in October for the first time in 16 years.
On Tuesday, the Fed hinted in its latest meeting notes that monetary policy will remain restrictive, and gave no signal of cutting interest rates anytime soon. Investors, nevertheless, continue to remain hopeful that the central bank will not hike rates at its December meeting, according to fed funds futures trading.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite on Tuesday closed a five-day winning streak, as the strong November rally took a pause. The Dow also ended lower.
The major averages are all still on pace for monthly gains, however. The Nasdaq has jumped 11 per cent in November. The Dow has gained around 7 per cent, and the S&P 500 is more than 8 per cent higher during the period.