The stock market fought back from early weakness Wednesday, a day when small caps shined and leading stocks made broad gains.
XSmall caps led, with the Russell 2000 leaping 1.4% at the close and rising back above its 200-day moving average.
The Nasdaq rose 0.7% and the S&P 500 nearly 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was a fraction higher. Dow Inc. (DOW) and struggling Boeing (BA) lost more than 1% each on the Dow industrials.
Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), a good proxy for the Nasdaq, added 0.5%. The ETF is about 1% from a new high. Volume was lower compared to Tuesday's totals, according to unconfirmed figures.
It was a good bounce-back for the market, one day after indexes fell and the Nasdaq added a distribution day.
Little Reaction To Fed Minutes
Indexes dipped after the 2 p.m. ET release of the minutes of the March Federal Reserve meeting. But the market soon bounced back and climbed to new session highs. Indexes bullishly closed near the day's highs.
The minutes showed Fed policymakers were comfortable holding off on more interest-rate increases while they tried to understand the severity of a fourth-quarter slowdown, and some global uncertainties.
Retail led the market, with SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) up 1.5%. Real estate, transportation, technology and energy were other well-performing sectors.
Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) added 0.9% as leading stocks were broadly higher. Only four of the 50 stocks in the index fell Wednesday, none suffering any real consequences.
One breakout worth noting today belonged to Gray Television (GTN), a company in Stock Spotlight. The stock busted out of a base-on-base pattern. Volume was more than double its average and the relative strength line made a new high — two positive elements on the chart.
The stock formed a shallow base on top of a deeper consolidation, which can be interpreted as constructive action. While the first base didn't produce big gains, the stock held above its buy point. The five weeks in which the stock declined 9% showed institutional investors with enough faith to hold shares. With Wednesday's surge, those investors showed they found the stock attractively priced.
The stock was added to IBD Leaderboard on the breakout.
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