Dow Climbs as Technology Strength Offsets Energy Decline

The Dow rose on Wednesday as investors said a recent resurgence in technology continued to support stocks, despite the Federal Reserve's minutes from its June meeting reaffirming the central bank's commitment to fighting inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%, or 69 points, the Nasdaq 0.4% and the S&P 500 0.4%, The Fed minutes showed that members were "in favor of moving to a restrictive policy stance and acknowledged the possibility that an even more restrictive stance might be appropriate if high inflation pressures persist." Technology stocks picked up where they left off a day earlier, helping to stabilize the broader market. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) were in the green. Amazon said it took a stake in Grubhub to provide food delivery benefits to Amazon Prime subscribers, including a food delivery fee waiver. Uber (NYSE:UBER) and DoorDash (NYSE:DASH) fell sharply, down more than 4% and 7%, respectively. Energy stocks were a key drag on the market for the second day in a row as oil prices deepened losses after a more than 9% drop the day before and energy stocks were pressured by concerns that the recession will severely dampen demand. Citigroup warned earlier this week that oil prices could fall to $65 a barrel by the end of this year and about $45 by the end of 2023 if the economy falls into recession. The ratio of the 10-year yield to the two-year yield, a key part of the Treasury yield curve, continued to invert, a key recession indicator, although it steepened slightly from a day earlier after better-than-expected economic data. Service activity was better than expected in June, while job openings beat economists' forecasts, possibly indicating a labor market running too hot, which is not good news for bets that inflation will peak. "While employment growth has slowed gradually, this slowdown is driven by supply constraints rather than demand weakness, creating a sustained upside for wages," Jefferies said in a note. On the other hand, Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN) announced that it delivered more than 4,000 vehicles in the second quarter and is on track to deliver 25,000 vehicles this year, sending its shares up 10%.