S&P 500 Index opens flat, energy stocks continue to climb on oil rally
- Wall Street's main indexes opened near Tuesday's closing levels.
- Energy stocks post impressive gains as oil prices continue to push higher.
- S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Index is down nearly 1%.
Although US stock index futures spent the majority of the day trading in the positive territory, major equity indexes in the US opened little changed on Wednesday amid varying performances of major sectors. As of writing, the S&P 500 Index was flat at 4,442, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.02% at 34,583 and the Nasdaq Composite was losing 0.2% at 15,003.
Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Energy Index is rising 2.8% supported by a 2.5% increase witnessed in US crude oil prices. On the other hand, the Consumer Discretionary Index is losing nearly 1% as the biggest decliner after the opening bell.
Earlier in the day, the data from the US showed that the NY Fed's Empire State Manufacturing Index rose sharply to 34.3 in September from 18.3 in August. Additionally, the Federal Reserve reported that Industrial Production expanded by 0.4% in August. Nevertheless, these prints had little to no impact on risk sentiment.
S&P 500 chart (daily)
Author
Eren Sengezer
FXStreet
As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.
