Stocks edged higher in wobbly trading Wednesday as yields were mixed in the bond market, which has been Wall Street's main driver recently.
- The S&P 500 rose 18.71 points, or 0.4%, to 4,376.95.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 65.57 points, or 0.2%, to 33,804.87.
- The Nasdaq composite rose 96.83 points, or 0.7%, to 13,659.68.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell again, even though a report on wholesale inflation came in hotter than expected. Economists said it may not be enough to force the Federal Reserve to raise its main interest rate again. Oil prices also continued to pull back from their spurt earlier this week.
Wall Street has been mostly struggling since the summer as longer-term yields shoot higher in the bond market, weighing on prices for all kinds of investments. Some relief has come this week, and yields have regressed after officials at the Federal Reserve suggested they may be done raising their main overnight interest rate. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.59% from 4.66% late Tuesday and from more than 4.80% last week, when it reached its highest level since 2007. Besides hurting prices for investments, high yields have jacked up rates for mortgages and other loans, which saps momentum from the economy.
A further pullback in crude oil prices is helping to take some heat off inflation and support Wall Street. A barrel of US crude oil slumped $2.48 to settle at $83.49. Brent crude, the international standard, fell $1.83 to $85.82 per barrel. ExxonMobil was feeling extra pressure after it said it would buy Pioneer Natural Resources in an all-stock deal valued at $59.5 billion. ExxonMobil fell 3.6%, and Pioneer rose 2.3% It's Exxon's largest buyout since acquiring Mobil two decades ago and creates a colossal fracking operator in west Texas. Birkenstock stumbled in its debut on Wall Street. The maker of distinctive sandals fell 12.6% after initially pricing its stock at $46 per share, which valued the company at $8.64 billion.
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