March 15, 2017: The S&P 500 closed higher on the day, up 0.84% and 19.81 points to 2,385.26. Separately the DJIA closed up 0.54% on the day at 20,950.10, up approximately 112.73 points. The major story from today was that Janet Yellen and the Fed decided to hike interest rates by 0.25% while signaling that there could be more to come this year. Practically all of the industries in the index closed higher on the day with the exception of auto parts stores.

Crude oil turned itself around on Wednesday, closing 1.49% higher at $48.86.

Gold turned around as well pushing back above the $1,200 level. This commodity rose 1.48% or $17.80, closing at $1,220.40.

As we have said before, the only industries that showed weakness in the index were auto parts stores and some major financial stocks. Obviously, the Fed announcement did not play much into the major financial stocks, while auto stores traded lower in increased volume.

Practically every other industry was positive across the board following the Fed announcement. Earlier in the day more of these industries were flat but as the day went on everything started to become more positive.

The S&P 500 stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Wednesday was Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE: M) which traded down 2% at $30.32. The stock’s 52-week range is $28.55 to $45.50. Volume was 8.11 million versus the daily average of 9.03 million shares.

The stock posting the largest daily percentage gain in the S&P 500 ahead of the close Wednesday was Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX) which jumped 5.1% to $12.90. The stock’s 52-week range is $8.76 to $17.06. Volume was 23.36 million which is below the daily average of around 29.12 million shares.

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