Dow finishes higher than the materials rally; The Fed should continue to pause by Investing.com

Investing.com – Wall Street closed higher on Wednesday, as the minutes of the US Federal Reserve's January meeting suggested that the central bank would continue to refrain from rate hikes due to concerns international trade and the slowdown in domestic growth.

The increase of 0.24%, the addition of 0.18%, while the tack on 0.03%.

The publication of the minutes triggered a volatile share price as investors tried to weigh a little more on the Fed's US economy against its loose monetary policy stance.

"The participants noted that maintaining the current target range of the federal funds rate for a while presented little risk at the moment," the minutes said. "The current level of federal funds rate was in the lower end of the range of neutral interest rate estimates."

The Fed pointed out that "consumer or business morale is easing" and "a reduction in foreign economic growth prospects", which was an obstacle to tightening monetary policy.

In the minutes, the minutes stated that "almost all participants felt it would be desirable to announce too early a plan to end the Federal Reserve's reduction of holdings later this year".

At the height of the financial crisis, the Fed bought government bonds and mortgages to revive the economy. However, it has allowed maturing values ​​to reach up to $ 50 billion a month, as part of a plan to reduce its balance sheet.

Beyond monetary policy, commodity stocks have also supported the market in the face of rising expectations. An escalation of the trade war between the United States and China will be avoided when the current truce expires on March 1st.

CF Industries Holdings (NYSE: :), Mosaic (NYSE 🙂 and DowDuPont (NYSE :)), which are sensitive to the rising cost of raw materials driven by US tariffs on imports from China, have risen sharply.

President Donald Trump hinted Tuesday that the march. The trading deadline was not fixed in stone, saying it was not a "magic" date.

CVS Health (NYSE 🙂 lobbied health sector actions after punishing it for getting results that were out of the line. Forecasts for earnings per share and revenue for the full year were also lower than estimates, the company expects 2019 to be a year of " transition "as it seeks to integrate Aetna (NYSE :).

For 2019, CVS expects adjusted earnings of between $ 6.68 and $ 6.88 per share, less than the $ 7.41 per share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.

Health care stocks fell 0.13%.

Garmin (NASDAQ 🙂 has proven to be a good asset for corporate earnings, with both Investing.com's up and down, supported by increased demand for its smartwatches and navigation systems.

Main winners and losers of the S & P 500 today:

Garmin (NASDAQ :), Devon Energy (NYSE 🙂 and Host Hotels & Resorts (NYSE 🙂 were among the top winners of the S & P 500 for the session.

CVS (NYSE :), Concho Resources (NYSE 🙂 and Southwest Airlines (NYSE 🙂 were among the worst in the S & P 500 session.