For most of the day markets were flirting with high water marks for the year and then started retreating in late afternoon trading. The Dow still closed at its highest level since July of last year, while the NASDAQ inched closer to the 5,000 level. Energy stocks again led winners after oil traded lower but held mostly above $40 a barrel.
Peter Coleman, head trader at Convergex told CNBC-
“Stocks are rising with people putting money to work during earnings season and continued short covering along with more of a risk-on sentiment around the world right now, and there has been some support for stocks from the rise in oil prices, but the correlation has declined recently.”
In the meantime, there is just over a month before a referendum vote in the United Kingdom to decide whether or not Britain should leave the European Union. British Chancellor George Osborne said a vote to leave the European Union would do permanent damage to the country’s economy. But supporters of the so called “Brexit” say the EU will hold Britain and the U.K. back. See more from CNN/Money below.
Here are the final numbers from Wednesday, 4/20/16 on Wall Street:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 18,096.27 (+42.67 / +0.24 %)
NASDAQ: 4,948.13 (+7.80 / +0.16 %)
S&P 500: 2,102.40 (+1.60 / +0.08%)
