By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks were mostly up on
Wednesday, with the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 near
session highs, as House leaders met on Capitol Hill and the
government shutdown marked a ninth day.
"I think we're getting a glimmer of hope. There seems to be a
conversation going in the background that the way to exit this mess
is a short-term lifting of the debt ceiling and as a reward an
agreement for both sides to sit down and discuss budget issues,"
said Art Hogan, a market strategist at Lazard Capital Markets
LLC.
After a 52-point drop, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)
was lately near session highs, up 58.02 points, or 0.4%, at
14,834.55.
The S&P 500 index (SPX) rose 4.69 points, or 0.3%, to
1,660.14, with telecommunications and financials the best
performing and energy and consumer discretionary faring most poorly
among its 10 major industry sectors.
Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) rallied 5.7% after Chief
Executive Meg Whitman said the company is poised to see "pockets of
growth" in 2014.
Alcoa Inc. (AA) rose 4.3%, a day after the aluminum producer
reported better-than-anticipated quarterly earnings. (Read more on
Alcoa results:
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/10/08/what-alcoas-results-say-about-global-manufacturing/.)
Shares of Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. (JOSB) and Men's Wearhouse
Inc. (MW) both rallied after Men's Wearhouse spurned the former's
buyout offer.
The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) declined 9.79 points, or 0.3%, to
3,685.04.
For every three stocks falling, roughly four gained on the New
York Stock Exchange, where 363 million shares traded as of 1:50
p.m. Eastern.
Composite volume surpassed 2.1 billion shares.
Treasury prices were mixed, with the yield on the 10-year note
(10_YEAR) used in figuring mortgages and other consumer loans up 3
basis points at 2.664%.
The dollar(DXY) gained against the currencies of major U.S.
trading partners, including the yen (USDJPY) and the euro (EURUSD),
while the price of dollar-denominated commodities declined, with
oil futures off $1.95, or 1.9%, at $101.53 a barrel and gold
futures down $17.80, or 1.3%, at $1,306.80 an ounce.
Janet Yellen, now vice chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, will
be nominated to succeed Ben Bernanke as Fed chief, with an
announcement expected to come from President Barack Obama in the
afternoon.
At 2 p.m. Eastern time, the central bank will release minutes
from its September meeting, at which the Fed unexpectedly refrained
from tapering its $85 billion in monthly asset purchases.
The development comes as Democrats and Republicans on Capitol
Hill continue to spar over the partial government shutdown and
hiking the debt limit.
"I wish I could be watching earnings and economic data, but the
goofiness in Washington is pretty much taking all the air out of
the room," said Paul Nolte, managing director at Dearborn
Partners.
"The market is starting to slowly price in a chance of default;
we don't pay our bills, everybody takes a look at the U.S. a little
differently at that point. That's part of why I think we'll get a
deal, but it's politics not finance," said Nolte, who believes the
stock market could drop as much as 10% should politicians fail to
hike the nation's debt ceiling before an Oct. 17 deadline.
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