Family Dollar Has Great Day On The Markets – Acadiana Business Index

Stocks finished little changed on Wednesday. Mike Hunter has your stock market report on the Acadiana Business Index.

• The Dow finished down 9 points at 15291. The S&P 500 gained less than a point to 1652. The NASDAQ advanced 17 points to 3520.
• The major averages ended a choppy trading session mixed following the release of the minutes from the Fed’s June meeting. Although the report showed several policymakers favored a reduction in the central bank’s asset purchases, many wanted to see further signs of improvement in the labor market before tapering its bond buying program.
• On the data front, wholesale inventories fell in May by the most since September 2011. Among today’s earnings releases, Family Dollar rose 7.1% to $68.50 after the discount retailer posted quarterly results above consensus estimates. Shares of YUM! Brands closed $0.30 lower at $72.36 ahead of its earnings release Wednesday night. Financials were the worst performing sector Wednesday led by a decline in bank stocks. Shares of Bank of America lost $0.16 to close at $13.37. Comerica fell 2.2% to $41.62. Energy also weighed on the market as Nabors Industries fell 6.3% to $14.99 on its reduced income forecast. Health care was the best performing group with Amgen up 3.8% to $102.06.
• Breadth on the NYSE was positive by 8-7 on issues but 7-6 negative on volume. Composite volume on the NYSE totaled more than 2.9 billion shares. The NASDAQ was 13-9 positive on issues and 3-2 on volume.
• Treasuries retreated with the 10-year note down 11/32 to yield 2.68%.

For the complete report, click Ken's Market Report.