REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
US stocks closed mixed after investors digested minutes from the Fed meeting showing that tapering asset purchases are on track to start in November.
CPI increased 0.4% in September, surpassing the median forecast of 0.3%.
While oil prices fell, gold prices rose.
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The US stock market ended higher Wednesday after investors listened to minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in September. These minutes showed that central bank officials had agreed to taper assets by November and scale back pandemic-era support for their economy.
"Participants generally agreed that, provided that the recovery continues broadly, a gradual tapering that ends around the middle next year would likely work," minutes of the September 21-22 meeting stated.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq beat the S&P 500, and the Dow. This was due to mega-cap tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft. As the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.545%.
Here are the US indexes at 4:00 p.m. ET closes Wednesday
Lawrence Gillum, Fixed Income Strategist at LPL Financial, stated that the minutes were a confirmation of Fed plans, but did not convey anything unexpected.
He stated that there wasn't much information to move the markets. "The tapering process can begin in mid-November or December-we still believe November, but it doesn't matter to markets at the moment. The Committee was divided on lift-off, though there was some interesting discussion.
The Consumer Price Index, a widely used measure of US inflation, rose 0.4% in September. This is higher than the 0.3% increase forecasted by Bloomberg economists. This print shows that prices have increased unexpectedly from August's 0.3% jump.
Koss surged 43% within two days following the patent win of headphone maker Apple by meme stock fans. Plug Power, another meme stock, climbed 13% following the announcement by the hydrogen fuel-cell developer that it had signed partnerships with Phillips 66 and Airbus.
Jon Cunliffe, Bank of England Deputy Governor, stated that a collapse of the cryptocurrency market is possible and that regulatory action is needed immediately.
The US is now the largest bitcoin miner in the world, accounting for a third the global hash rate. This was after Beijing banned cryptocurrency transactions. Data from the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, published Wednesday, showed that the US has surpassed China.
Oil prices slipped. West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 0.14%, to $80.53 a barrel. Brent oil, which is the international benchmark for oil, fell 0.19% to $83.26.
CNBC reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin said oil prices could rise to $100 per barrel due to rising global demand and tight supply.
Gold rose by 0.89% to $1776.08 an ounce.
