S&P 500 closes at new record high

4:10pm: S&P ends with another record

All three major US indices ended the day firmly in positive territory.

At the close, the S&P 500 had reached a new record high of 4,995 points, which was a 0.8% gain on the day.

Meanwhile, the Dow had added 156 points at 38,677 for a 0.4% gain and the Nasdaq finished nearly 1% higher at 15,757.

12:00pm: S&P hits new high with 5,000 mark on the horizon

Stocks in New York continued to power ahead as a broadly positive earnings season and strong economic data reassured investors about the health of the economy.

At noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4% at 38,660.00, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% at 4,987.72 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.7% at 15,724.99.

“The market continues to climb the wall of worry, including shifting Fed expectations, geopolitical tension, and overbought market conditions,” said Mark Hackett at Nationwide told Bloomberg.

“We are entering a sluggish seasonal period, but the market has strong momentum.”

Tech issues were especially with gains in Nvidia, Microsoft, AMD and Amazon.

The markets seems to have accepted that rates will stay higher, for longer once more and shrugged aside comments from two Fed officials that a slowdown in the labour market and/or demand would be needed to get inflation to its 2% target.

9:45am: Stocks make bright start wth S&P 500 approaching 5,000

Stocks made a bright start to the day with the S&P 500 creeping ever closer to the 5,000 mark.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4% at 38,668.65, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% at 4,977.03 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.4% at 15,670.64.

Stocks on the move include Snap, down 31%, after a revenue miss and weak guidance, while car maker Ford gained 5.2% after beating Wall Street’s fourth-quarter estimates and issuing higher-than-expected full-year guidance.

Enphase Energy jumped 17% after the solar company said its inventory glut may be approaching a bottom, boosting the solar sector, with Solaredge Technologies surging 11%.

7:00am: Stocks seen little changed

Stocks futures were little changed on Wednesday as investors await fresh catalysts for direction.

In pre-market trading, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.1%, while those for the S&P 500 were flat and contracts for the Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.1%.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya at Swissquote Bank noted on Tuesday several Fed members were “on the battlefield, fighting the doves.” 

“Loretta Mester said there is no rush to cut rates and Neel Kashkari said that the Fed hasn’t reached its inflation goal yet. The game is now being played for a May cut, with around two thirds probability attached to it,” she added.

There will be more ‘Fedspeak’ on Wednesday. 

US Federal Reserve governors Adriana Kugler and Michelle Bowman will make separate appearances while the presidents of the Fed’s Boston and Richmond branches, Susan Collins and Thomas Barkin, will also speak.

It’s set to be another busy day for earnings with Disney, Uber, Yum Brands, Roblox, Brookfield Asset Management (TSX:BAM.A) and Fox reporting before Wall Street’s opening bell. 

PayPal, Coty, News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) and Mattel will post their earnings after the market closes.