By Anora Mahmudova and Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch)--U.S. stocks scored their biggest one-day
gains of the year Wednesday, after minutes of September Federal
Open Market Committee meeting reaffirmed the central bank's intent
to be prudent in raising interest rates.
The sharp gains came on the heals of sharp declines on Tuesday,
marking the fifth session over the past 10 trading days when the
S&P 500 moved by 1% or more.
The S&P 500 (SPX) closed up 33.79 points, or 1.8%, at
1,968.89, its biggest one-day gain in 12 months. Health care and
utility stocks led the advances.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) jumped 274.83 points, or
1.6%, to 16,994.22, it's biggest one-day advance this year. The
Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) gained 83.39 points, or 1.9%, to 4,468.59.
The Russell 2000 (RUT) rose 20.84 points, or 1.9%, to 1,097.15.
The Fed minutes offered no major revelations. But markets
wrestling with sluggish growth in Europe, China and Japan may have
been heartened by the lack of surprises.
Some highlights from the minutes released Wednesday include the
fact that several top officials wanted to rewrite their guidance
that short-term interest rates were likely to stay low for a
"considerable time," but held off in part because of concerns that
the market would view it as a fundamental shift in policy.
"Things were very oversold after Tuesday's big drop and today
showed how quickly that can change," said Ryan Detrick, market
technician at Seeitmarket.
"The minutes showed the Fed is still very concerned with global
growth slowing. This means they aren't looking to increase rates
soon. We know they will eventually, but today made it seem like it
could be later than sooner," he added.
Stocks to watch: Alcoa Inc.(AA) unofficially kicked off earnings
season with better-than-expected earnings after the market close.
Shares rallied 2% in late trading.
Kraft Foods Group Inc. (KRFT) was up 1.9% after the food company
said Tuesday it's raising its quarterly dividend to 55 cents a
share, from 52.5 cents.
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) surprised with a 13% rise in
profit on growth in same-store sales and higher sales from
membership fees. Shares rose 2.8%.
Symantec Corp.(SYMC) could be looking at a split, Bloomberg News
reported, citing persons with knowledge of the plans. Shares rose
nearly 3.5%.
Other markets: European stocks trended lower, with the German
DAX 30 dropping below the key 9,000 level. Travel stocks were hit
particularly hard in Europe on fears the spread of Ebola will
hamper tourism. Stocks in Russia and other emerging markets were
also hit hard as Tuesday's growth warning by the International
Monetary Fund about the health of the global economy continued to
have ripple effects. The case for not panicking over the global
slowdown
The global rout was felt in Asia, where the Nikkei 225 index
lost 1.2%.
Oil prices(CLX4) pushed another leg lower, trading around the
$87-dollar-a-barrel level. On Tuesday in New York it finished at
its lowest level for two years, also weighed by that IMF growth
call. Gold(GCZ4) rose as stocks continued to struggle.
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