All three U.S. major market averages were posed to continue their record streak, but the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost some of this intraday highs in afternoon trading, thus Wednesday marks the end of a five-day rising streak for the S&P. However, the Nasdaq Composite Index posted its longest streak of record closes in almost two years.
Here's how the U.S. stock market closed for the mid-week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.04% or -1.35 points
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.09% or -26.76 points
Nasdaq Composite Index (NYSE: QQQ): +0.05% or +4.38 points
In Major U.S. Stock News, FedEx (NYSE: FDX) shares dropped more than -10% after the shipping company announced missed quarterly reports. The company stated that its results were impacted by a weaker global economy and its recent falling out with its largest customer, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). Amazon's move to grow the company's own in-house delivery has continued to threaten FedEx's stock.
In U.S. Political News, the U.S. House of Representatives began debating two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump before market open this morning. The final votes are expected to conclude late Wednesday evening. Though Trump is likely to be impeached by the House, the Republican controlled Senate is expected to acquit the president. The outcome of the political decision is not expected to harm the stock market however, for a recent survey gauging investors' views on the impacts of impeachment, RBC Capital Markets (NYSE: RY) found that 74% of those surveyed believed an impeachment by the House without a conviction in the Senate would be a neutral event for markets.
In U.S. Stock Sector News, sectors remained mixed as they move into the end of the week with Consumer Discretionary remaining unchanged. The sectors that experienced stock share growth include Real Estate +1.33%, Utilities +0.43%, Energy +0.30%, Communication Services +0.29% and Health Care +0.12%. The remaining that had a decline in growth include Industrials -0.50%, Financials -0.47%, Consumer Staples -0.37%, Materials -0.24% and Information Technology -0.06%.
Lastly, in U.S. Commodity and Currency News, oil prices continue their winning streak, with West Texas Intermediate increasing +0.58% and Brent Crude was not far behind climbing +0.55%. Gold, on the other hand, lost most of the gains it acquired yesterday, with the metal's prices dropping almost -0.05%. Finally, the U.S. dollar had a strong increase in current markets, with the DXY Index soaring +0.25%.