Stocks rose significantly on Wednesday, equally undeterred by the late announcement of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s 10-7 vote in favor of US military action in Syria, as well as another 6-minute outage on the NASDAQ OMX fee.
The rally was impressive, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 index up 0.81 percent to 1,653.08 points, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.65 percent to 14,930.87, and the NASDAQ 1.01 percent higher to 3,649.04 points.
Positive economic data had a role in the day’s trading, with the big 3 US automakers all reporting strong sales for the month of August. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book indicated “modest to moderate” overall economic growth in the US economy. But the real market-moving information of the day could likely have originated from strategists at Deutsche Bank (DB) and Morgan Stanley (MS) , who set their targets for the S&P to 1,750 for the year end, and 1,840 over the next 12 months (respectively).
Shares for Ford (F) and General Motors (GM) helped to lift the S&P higher, along with significant advances for tech stocks, with Micron Technology (MU) and Intel (INTC) ending the day higher.
26 of the Dow’s components ended the day in the black, with Intel at the top of the pile, followed by Coca-Cola (KO) and Verizon Communications. Tech shares were also 3 out of the index’s 4 worst performers, with Microsoft (MSFT) , Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) , and IBM (IBM) all lower by the closing bell.
Tech shares were also a crucial factor in the NASDAQ’s end result on Wednesday, accounting for 13 of the index’s 20 highest-volume advances. Aside from those already mentioned, Vodafone (VOD) , Himax Technologies (HIMX) , and CIENA Corp. (CIEN) closed the day on gains. Apple (AAPL) added nearly two percent to finish at just shy of $500.
