Market close commentary for 17 July 2013.
Gary has a meeting away from the office this afternoon. The market close is brought to you from our content sharing partner Investing.com:
U.S stocks rose modestly Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the pace of the central bank’s purchases are not a “preset course“.
The S&P 500 closed higher by 0.28% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.12%. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.32% as investors appeared satisfied with Bernanke’s congressional testimony and the results of the Beige Book survey.
In prepared remarks released before his testimony to Congress later in the day, Fed Chair Bernanke said the pace of the central bank’s bond purchases are not a “preset course”.
“I emphasize that, because our asset purchases depend on economic and financial developments, they are by no means on a preset course.”
Bernanke reiterated that the Fed will continue to maintain its accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future.
Complete market reviews can be read at Investing.com.
Major market tables follow. Click on any table for latest live data at Investing.com.