More Top Picks Best Shoes Under 5000
player ready...Stocks advanced Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut its short-term interest rate target by a quarter percentage point, as expected, but hinted that a third straight cut at its next policy meeting in December was not assured.
Stocks posted their third straight monthly gain.
The dollar fell to fresh record lows against the euro, as currency traders snubbed lower U.S. interest rates.
Oil climbed to a fresh record high, closing up $4.15 a barrel, at $94.53. The government reported an unexpected decline in U.S. crude oil inventories.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 137.54 points, to 13,930.01. Nasdaq stocks were especially buoyant, boosting their gain for the month to nearly 6 percent, as technology stocks rallied.
International Business Machines and Microsoft were among the biggest contributors to Wednesday’s Dow gain. Only two Dow stocks, Citigroup and Wal-Mart Stores, posted losses.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 18.36, to 1549.38. The Nasdaq composite index gained 42.41, to 2859.12. The Russell 2000 small-company index added 11.87, to 828.02.
New York Stock Exchange volume reached 1.54 billion shares. Winners outnumbered losers by an 8-3 ratio. Nasdaq volume totaled 2.50 billion shares, as winners topped losers by a 2-1 ratio.
Stocks applauded a better-than-expected report on economic growth in the third quarter and an upbeat estimate of job growth in the private sector, issued Wednesday morning by Automatic Data Processing. A report of worsening business conditions in the Chicago area neither hurt stocks nor helped Treasuries.
Among local stocks, Huron Consulting Group, Chicago, dropped $10.28, or 13 percent, to $69.88, after the company posted disappointing revenue figures for the third quarter and trimmed its outlook for full-year results.
Chicago-based Northern Trust added $1.01, to $75.21. Morgan Stanley upgraded its investment rating for Northern and rival State Street to “overweight,” citing their lack of “consumer credit risk.”
Treasuries lost ground in the face of the stock market rally. Traders turned their attention to Friday’s scheduled report on October job growth and unemployment. Economists expect about 80,000 new jobs were created.