US close: Stocks edge higher after Fed minutes

Wall Street ended higher but with the main market gauges off their best levels of the session after the minutes of the US central bank's last policy meeting revealed concerns around recent moderate inflation readings.

The Dow Jones Industrials gained 0.12% or 25.88 points to finish at 22,024.87, alongside a gain of 3.50 points or 0.14% to 2,468.11 for the S & P 500 and a 12.10 point or 0.19% advance to 6,345.11 in the Nasdaq Composite.

According to the Fed meeting minutes, "Many participants [...] saw some likelihood that inflation might remain below 2 percent for longer than they currently expected, and several indicated that the risks to the inflation outlook could be tilted to the downside."

From a sector standpoint, as the Greenback slipped following the release of the minutes the biggest gains were seen in: Non-ferrous metals (5,73%), Aluminum (4.61%) and Industrial metals (3.32%).

Also on the economic front, the Department of Commerce reported that housing starts in the States fell by 4.8% month-on-month in July to reach an annualised pace of 1.155m, undershooting economists' forecast for a small rise to 1.225m by a wide margin.

Building permits were also lower, falling 4.1% to 1.223m (consensus: 12.4m).

However, Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, pointed out how weakness in both releases was concentrated in the multi-family segment

Even so, Shepherdson conceded that: "The trend in single-family construction, which accounts for about three-quarter of all activity, flattened off late last year and is still headed sideways. We hope for a modest increase by late summer, but with mortgage applications recently breaching their upward trend we can’t expect sustained gains in construction, and activity could easily soften again in the fall."

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for prompt month delivery were down 94 cents to $46.78 a barrel on NYMEX, with traders seemingly brushing off Department of Energy data that revealed a 8.99m barrel drop in US oil inventories last week.

Instead, they seemed to be focusing on figures showing a 79,000 barrel a day jump in domestic US oil output to reach 9.50 mb/d.

Amazon.com was in the spotlight on the corporate front after president Donald Trump tweeted: "Amazon is doing great damage to tax paying retailers. Towns, cities and states throughout the US are being hurt - many jobs being lost!"

Nevertheless, investors were undaunted, with the stock edging higher by 0.09% to $983.66 in response.

Speaking of retailers, shares in Target were higher after the discounter reported a 1.3% gain in like-for-like sales for the latest quarter, edging past forecasts for a rise of 1.1%.

Dow Jones - Risers

United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $118.00 1.76%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $152.25 1.39%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $158.90 0.81%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $32.34 0.78%
American Express Co. (AXP) $87.39 0.69%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $102.22 0.68%
Visa Inc. (V) $103.32 0.67%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $134.16 0.59%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $73.65 0.59%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $82.01 0.53%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Chevron Corp. (CVX) $106.82 -1.59%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $225.61 -0.87%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $77.47 -0.73%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $92.09 -0.69%
Boeing Co. (BA) $237.53 -0.66%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $35.81 -0.53%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $160.95 -0.40%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $193.77 -0.38%
General Electric Co. (GE) $25.11 -0.16%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $48.41 -0.14%

S&P 500 - Risers

Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) $19.76 17.48%
Endo International Plc (ENDP) $8.70 6.88%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $14.76 5.73%
Advance Auto Parts (AAP) $91.51 5.09%
Agilent Technologies Inc. (A) $62.14 4.65%
Alcoa Corporation (AA) $39.23 4.61%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $24.63 3.88%
Target Corp. (TGT) $56.31 3.61%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $30.69 3.40%
Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) $60.68 2.88%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Transocean Ltd. (RIG) $7.58 -4.17%
Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP) $43.77 -3.97%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $10.48 -3.76%
Hess Corp. (HES) $39.31 -3.46%
Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) $23.77 -3.30%
Quanta Services Inc. (PWR) $34.27 -3.00%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $11.19 -2.95%
H&R Block Inc. (HRB) $30.76 -2.38%
Eog Resources Inc. (EOG) $84.97 -2.34%
Apache Corp. (APA) $40.63 -2.19%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $30.69 3.40%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $201.58 2.85%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $54.37 2.53%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $241.90 2.47%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $243.43 2.42%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $85.85 2.42%
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) $53.73 2.17%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $294.08 2.14%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $163.22 1.88%
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $159.76 1.84%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Ctrip.Com International Ltd. Ads (CTRP) $50.14 -2.74%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $124.34 -1.61%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $50.38 -1.47%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $165.15 -1.10%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $53.31 -1.04%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $43.65 -0.91%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $151.37 -0.88%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $29.82 -0.86%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $468.54 -0.85%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class C (DISCK) $21.35 -0.79%