Wall Street closes little changed as tech counters losses in energy
After some minor fluctuations on Wednesday, major equity indexes in the U.S. closed the day near their opening levels.
Concerns over rising OPEC exports coupled with Russia's opposition to further production output cuts hurt crude oil prices today, pushing the barrel of West Texas Intermediate, which lost more than 4%, towards the $45 handle. The S&P energy index .SPNY dropped 2% as oil giants Exxon and Chevron shares lost more than 1.5%. On the other hand, the tech index .SPLRCT added 1% on the back of solid gains seen in Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia shares.
There was no apparent reaction by the equity indexes to FOMC's June meeting minutes as the statement failed to provide a clear message regarding the next move in the monetary policy normalization process.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.1 points, or 0.01%, to close at 21,478.17, the S&P 500 added 3.12 points, or 0.12%, to 2,428.00 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 40.80 points, or 0.67%, to 6,150.86.
Headlines from the U.S. session:
- Forex today: USD, rates higher, Fed minutes show concerns over financial stability
- US Ambassador to UN: Countries trading with N.Korea are in violation of UN sanctions
- Fed: Next rate hike will occur in December - Wells Fargo
- CME Group FedWatch September hike probability virtually unchanged after FOMC minutes
- FOMC Minutes: Policymakers saw recent increase in import prices as consistent with inflation trend in medium term
- US Factor Orders: A larger-than-expected decline in May - Wells Fargo
- N.Korea to test an ICBM that can hit the US mainland within this year - UOB
- NFP Preview: Job creation in June probably above trend growth - Danske Bank
- Deutsche Bank to move assets booked in London to Frankfurt - Bloomberg
- Pentagon: North Korea's ICBM was a new type of missile that 'we've not seen before' - Reuters