Stocks ended Wednesday's session mixed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed slightly to a record closing high, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped modestly lower, as investors looked for direction as new economic data showed tame inflation.
Consumer price changed increased at a less-than-expected rate in January, according to the Labor Department's monthly report. The headline consumer price index rose 0.3% for Jan. over December, which matched consensus economist expectations. However, excluding more volatile food and energy prices, CPI remained unchanged for Jan, following an unchanged reading for the previous month.
Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.03% or -1.33 points to 3,909.90
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.20% or +62.57 points to 31,438.40
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.25% or -35.16 points to 13,972.53
For Stocks, cannabis names like Aphria (NASdAQ: APHA), Aurora Cannabis (NYSE: ACB), Canopy Growth (NASDAQ: CGC) and Tilray (NASDAQ: TLRY) all rallied higher on Wednesday as retail investors from Reddit jumped into the sector with bets the Biden administration will decriminalize the plant's use in the U.S. General Motors (NYSE: GM) warned that the global semiconductor shortage could harm the automarker's 2021 earnings, potentially costing the company $1.5 billion to $2 billion.
For Sector Performance, sectors on the S&P 500 ended Wednesday's session mixed. Energy (NYSE: XLE) was the lead gainer, rising over 1.8%, while Consumer Discretionary (NYSE: XLY) was the biggest decliner, falling almost 1% lower.
For Commodities and Currencies, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) declined to two-week lows on Wednesday as the greenback was pressured by fresh U.S. economic data showing slight inflation. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against other global currencies, traded 0.2% lower at 90.324. Bitcoin slipped from recent gains on Wednesday, trading 3.7% lower at $44,799. The digital currency had reached a high of $48,216 on Tuesday after Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) disclosed a $1.5 billion in the cryptocurrency earlier this week. Gold (NYSE: GLD) prices rose on Wednesday on the weakening dollar as investors remained optimistic towards near-term fiscal stimulus. Spot gold increased 0.2% to $1,840.96 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.4% higher at $1,844.90 per ounce. Crude oil futures extended their recent rally for a ninth session on Wednesday on demand recovery optimism. International benchmark Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) climbed 0.6% higher at $61.47 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) gained 0.55% at $58.68 each.
For Thursday, market participants will turn their attention to fresh weekly unemployment data, as well as corporate quarterly earnings from companies like Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), Pepsico (NASDAQ: PEP), AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN), and Disney (NYSE: DIS).