The stock market continued its advance on Wednesday, following Tuesday’s pause, as stocks rallied from the opening bell unit the market closed. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led the major market averages higher, gaining 1.79 percent while the Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 1.62 percent on the day. Not even the release of the ever-more-hawkish Federal Open Market Committee minutes from October could slow the market down during the trading day, where most Fed members said liftoff conditions for raising interest rates could be met by December.
The stock market seems to be getting used to the idea of an interest-rate increase in December. Though all nine of the sectors finished higher on Wednesday, among the leading sectors was the Dow Jones U.S. Financial index, up 1.65 percent. Financial stocks are typically expected to outperform as interest rates rise, because the higher interest rates allow them to earn more.
Housing starts fell a steep 11.0 percent in October to 1.060 million annualized rate, pulled down by a 25 percent slump in multifamily homes. Single-family homes dropped by a less-severe 2.4 percent to 722,000. The good news in the report showed new home permits rose 4.1 percent, with single-family permits up 2.4 percent during the month.
Though most countries are flat to down over the past week, the few countries that finished the week in top of the list were led by Russia, with the S&P Russia Capped BMI index up 3.04 percent over the past five trading days. In the No. 2 spot was the Market Vectors Indonesia index, higher by 2.62 percent over the same period.