U.S. stock markets closed mixed on Wednesday after an extremely volatile trading session. Contraction of U.S. GDP in first quarter and various other weak economic data dented investors’ confidence on risky assets like equities.
However, markets recovered in last hour of trading. The Dow and the S&P 500 ended in positive territory while the Nasdaq Composite finished in negative zone. For the month of April, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended in red while the Nasdaq Composite managed to close in green.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.4% or 141.74 points to close at 40,669.36. At intraday low, the index was down 782 points. The blue-chip index posted a seventh-day winning streak, for the first time since July 2024. Notably, 21 components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory and 8 finished in negative zone and one remained unchanged.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished at 17,446.34, sliding 0.1% due to weak performance of technology bigwigs. The major loser of the tech-laden index was CoStar Group Inc. CSGP. The stock price of the online real estate marketplace plunged 10.3%. CoStar Group currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The S&P 500 was up 0.2% to finish at 5,569.06. At intraday low, the index was down 2.3%. The benchmark posted a seven-day winning run, for the first time since November 2024. Eight out of 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index ended in positive territory and three in negative zone.
The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) fell 2.7% and 0.9%. On the other hand, the Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI) and the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) rose 0.7% each.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 2.2% to 24.70. A total of 16.97 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 19.57 billion. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 1.19-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.28-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.
The Department of Commerce reported that the GDP contracted at 0.3% annualized rate in first-quarter 2025 compared with a growth 2.4% in fourth-quarter 2024. The consensus estimate was for a growth of 0.4%. This was the first quarterly contraction of the GDP in three years.
In first quarter 2025, personal spending rose 1.8%, its slowest pace since second-quarter 2023. PCE inflation rate came in at 3.6% for the first quarter compared with 2.4% in the previous quarter. The core PCE inflation (excluding volatile food and energy items) rose by 3.5%.
