The labor market's resilience is the main reason consumers continue to spend, and as long as that's the case, inflation is likely to remain sticky, according to Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance. The Fed is going to need to raise rates higher, and hold them higher for longer than people think, and this is going to cause markets to go through some volatility as bond and bond markets are priced for benign scenarios and not the more difficult ones that we are headed towards. The Standard and Poor's 500 was ahead by 11.47 points or 0.28 percent at 4,147 at the close of trading Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 38.78 points or 0.11 percent to 34,128. The Nasdaq Composite ended up with a strong day, rising by 110.45 points or 0.92 percent to 12,070. The U.S. dollar rallied hard on Wednesday. The euro dropped to 1.0688 at the U.S. close. The Swiss franc was down to 0.9237. The Japanese yen was sharply lower at 134.09. The British pound fell to 1.2024.
The Australian dollar took the elevator down to 0.6908, while the New Zealand dollar was not interested in 0.6283.
European and UK markets saw a mix of gains and losses, with the FTSE 100 rising by 0.55 percent, gaining 43.98 points to close at 7,997. 83 was better at 83, while the CAC 40 in France increased by 1.21 percent, adding 87.05 points to finish at 7,300. The German Dax scored 125.78 points or 0.82 percent to close at 15,506. Asian markets, on the other hand, closed lower. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell by 1.43 percent, losing 301.59 points to close at 20,812. The KOSPI Composite Index in South Korea dropped by 1.53 percent, falling by 37.74 points to close at 2,427. The TSEC-weighted index in Taiwan also fell by 1.42 percent, or 221.59 points, to close at 15,432. In South America, the IBOVESPA in Brazil increased by 1.62 percent, gaining 1,751. It's 33 points to close at 109,600. In Mexico, the IPC MEXICO increased by 1.44 percent, adding 759.12 points to 53,422, while the IPC MEXICO went up by 1.44 percent. The trading volume was mixed, with some indices reporting high volumes, while others saw relatively low volumes. The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the market's expectation of volatility, fell by 3.60 percent, and fell by 0.68 points to close at 18.23.