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The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Wednesday as bond yields fell following the Treasury Department’s announcement of an increased buyback operation for longer-term debt.
The 30-stock index climbed 154.72 points to 53,498.12.
The S&P 500 hiked 24.83 points, or 2.7%. to 7,722.82.
The NASDAQ Composite was positive 92.97 points to 26,382.69.
Stocks viewed as beneficiaries of lower rates saw some gains. Booking Holdings and Home Depot advanced 3% and 2%, respectively, while McDonald’s and Walmart were roughly 1% higher.
Moderna more than doubled, soaring more than 120% and heading for its best day on record after an experimental skin cancer vaccine developed with Merck showed success in a late-stage trial. Merck shares jumped more than 10%, supporting the Dow.
Shares of Marvell Technology gained more than 12% after announcing an agreement with Google related to its tensor processing units and issuing Alphabet a warrant to buy as much as almost 59 million shares of Marvell common stock.
However, key stocks in the tech space were under pressure. Oracle slid nearly 1%, while chip stocks such as Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices shed around 4%.
The latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes are set to release Wednesday afternoon. Investors will likely take a keen eye to the minutes, given the sharp divisions within the central bank. At the July meeting, there were three dissenters voting to hike rates, a division that investors will seek greater detail on.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury popped, lowering yields to 4.65% from Tuesday’s 4.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices spiked $1.44 to $86.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices climbed $131.10 to $4,551.70 U.S. an ounce.
