U.S. stocks ended mixed on Wednesday as investors, deprived of key economic data due to the ongoing federal government shutdown, turned their focus to minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1.20 points to 46,601.78. The S&P 500 added 39.13 points, or 0.58 percent, to 6,753.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased by 255.02 points, or 1.12 percent, to 23,043.38.
Seven of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with technology and industrials leading the gainers by rising 1.52 percent and 0.85 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, energy and consumer staples led the laggards by dropping 0.57 percent and 0.52 percent, respectively.
The federal government shutdown entered its eighth day, with no breakthrough in U.S. Congress, leaving market participants without official economic indicators for now. Traders are looking ahead to next week's third-quarter earnings season for fresh direction due to the absence of data.
Minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's September meeting revealed a divided panel. Policymakers expressed concerns over rising labor market risks while remaining cautious about inflation. "Most judged that it likely would be appropriate to ease policy further over the remainder of this year," the minutes said, though the timing and pace of rate cuts remained uncertain.
Meanwhile, Nvidia shares climbed over 2 percent after CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC that demand for computing power has "gone up substantially" in recent months. Huang also confirmed Nvidia's participation in financing Elon Musk's AI startup, xAI, and said he's "super excited" about the financing opportunity.
The stock's rebound followed Tuesday's decline, when Nvidia slipped alongside Oracle after reports of thinner cloud-computing margins. The episode rekindled concerns about an "AI bubble" reminiscent of the late-1990s dot-com era.
"Even if you look at the late-'90s, we had big corrections in the Nasdaq every single year, so I think there's going to continue to be this enthusiasm for a sell-off in tech stocks," Baird investment strategist Ross Mayfield said. "There could be several corrections, big corrections in tech stocks, you know DeepSeek-type moments, before we ultimately get to some sort of bull market top."
With key federal agencies such as the U.S. Labor and Commerce departments closed during the shutdown, official data releases have been suspended. Still, Bank of America economists said their proprietary indicators point to a slowing labor market, estimating that September employment grew just 0.5 percent year over year, which is "the slowest pace we've seen in months."
U.S. stocks close mixed as investors eye Fed minutes amid shutdown
