- The Nasdaq rose 0.01% higher at a fresh record 14,665.06.
- Apple shares surged 1.8% to a record high on Wall St expectations.
- Moderna shares fell 4.9% on fear of lower sales due to Delta COVID variant.
The US markets closed marginally higher on Wednesday after the minutes from the Federal Reserve?s latest meeting were released including details on Fed Policymakers suggesting they may need to withdraw economic support sooner than anticipated due to the positive progress of recovery.
The Dow Jones rose 0.3% to finish the trading day up 104 points to close at 34,682 points.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ closed flat finishing the trading day up just 1 point to close at 14,665 points with Apple and Amazon gaining 1.8% and 0.57% respectively.
One bitcoin is worth US$33,710 going into the Asian trading day.
The Australian dollar is firm against the major currencies and is buying 74.76 US cents.
Apple shares rose 1.8% to close at a record high US$144.57 on Wednesday as some Wall St analysts expect a stronger rally to come for the tech giant as iPhone sales gain momentum. JPMorgan issued a recommendation to investors to buy Apple shares, suggesting they could generate strong returns for investors in the second half of the year after lagging fellow tech giants in the first half.
Biotech company Moderna fell 4.90% yesterday as investors fear the impact the new Delta variant of COVID-19 will have on Moderna?s vaccine sales. The concerns arose after Israel?s Health Ministry said Pfizer?s vaccine had significantly lower efficacy for the Delta variant, which is made from the same mRNA approach as Moderna?s vaccine.
And TikTok is testing a ?TikTok Resumes? pilot program allowing users to upload video resumes to apply for US-based jobs ranging from senior data engineer at Shopify to a WWE superstar.