Stocks traded a little higher on Wednesday as market participants assessed the Federal Reserve's potential policy moves this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 100 points, while the S&P 500 Index added about 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite dipped below the flatline.
Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
FedWatch:
Federal Reserve policymakers expressed concern about inflation and the potential economic impacts of President-elect Donald Trump's policies, minutes from their December meeting released Wednesday showed.
While not named in the document, the meeting summary featured multiple risks related to changes in immigration and trade policies proposed by Trump, which includes broad tariffs on major trade partners like China, Mexico and Canada.
"Almost all participants judged that upside risks to the inflation outlook had increased," the minutes said. "As reasons for this judgement, participants cited recent stronger-than-expected readings on inflation and the likely effects of potential changes in trade and immigration policy."
Moreover, the minutes indicated that the pace of future interest rate cuts may be slower.
"In discussing the outlook for monetary policy, participants indicated that the Committee was at or near the point at which it would be appropriate to slow the pace of policy easing," the minutes said.
On the Economic Front:
U.S. Private Payrolls added less-than-expected jobs in December, payment processing firm ADP reported Wednesday, signalling that the Labor Department's "official" jobs report for the month may also post below expectations.
Employers added a seasonally adjusted 122,000 positions last month, below November's print of 146,000 additions and marking the smallest monthly increase since August. For wages, pay rose at the slowest pace since July 2021, increasing by 4.6%.
"The labor market downshifted to a more modest pace of growth in the final month of 2024, with a slowdown in both hiring and pay gains," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, in a statement.
In the News:
Shares of eBay
EBay said its integration with Marketplace is expected to "increased exposure to our sellers' listings, on and off eBay, as part of our strategy to engage buyers and deepen customer loyalty." Meta announced a similar partnership with Amazon
Looking Ahead:
Markets will be closed Thursday in a National Day of Mourning in honor of the death of former President Jimmy Carter. Wall Street will resume normal trading hours on Friday and will react to December's key jobs report due out in the morning.
