Investing.com -- U.S. stocks ticked up on Wednesday erasing sharp losses from earlier in the session, amid a continued global bond yield rout and further indications that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates on hold due to ongoing Brexit concerns.
A modest rally on Wall Street accelerated on Wednesday afternoon, after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) released the minutes from its last meeting on June 14-15. According to the minutes, the Committee felt it would be prudent to wait for the outcome of the historic Brexit referendum eight days later in order to "assess the consequences" of the vote on global financial markets. At the same time, most participants noted that a potential Brexit "could generate financial market turbulence," that could adversely impact U.S. domestic economic performance in the months ahead. While Fed officials remained divided on the timing of their next rate hike, most participants judged that conditions could be appropriate for further tightening if economic growth picked up, the labor market showed improvement and inflation moved closer to its 2% goal.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 78.00 or 0.44% to 17,918.62, while the S&P 500 Composite index added 11.18 or 0.54% to 2,099.73, as both indices erased some losses from the previous session's sell-off. At session lows, the Dow tumbled as much as 127 points. On the S&P 500, nine of 10 sectors closed in the green, as stocks in the Health Care, Technology and Consumer Services industries led. Stocks in Telecommunications sector lagged, falling more than 0.50% on the session. The NASDAQ Composite index, meanwhile, rose 36.26 or 0.75% to 2,099.73, amid a host of strong performances from leading biotech stocks.
The top performer on the Dow was Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 1.26 or 2.17% to 59.26 after the biotech giant announced the start of late stage experimentation on their checkpoint inhibitor avelumab for ovarian cancer treatment. The research, which Merck is conducting along with Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), will use avelumab in combination with chemotherapy to treat approximately 1,000 patients with late-stage, untreated ovarian cancer. It also came one day after Merck announced plans to acquire a controlling interest in Vallee S.A., a Brazilian-based animal health company, for $400 million.
The worst performer was EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD), which fell 1.13 or 1.79% to 61.83. DuPont shares fell considerably on Wednesday after the multinational conglomerate was found liable for the onset of testicular cancer in a male patient in a case involving the presence of a toxic Teflon chemical in Ohio and West Virginia waters. While DuPont was found liable by a Columbus jury on Wednesday, Chemours Co (NYSE:CC) must assume the majority of the costs. Shares in Chemours fell more than 22% to 5.93.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was CELG, which surged 4.35 or 4.34% to 104.60, jumping to fresh three-week highs. It came amid reports from Dow Jones that U.S. biotech firm Medivation, Inc. has signed a confidential agreement with Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG), paving the way for a potential merger. Medivation, according to the report, has also signed similar agreements with Sanofi (PA:SASY) SA and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE). For the session, the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology (IBB) ETF surged more than 2.3%, as Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRTX), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) and Endo International PLC (NASDAQ:ENDP) all jumped at least 3%.
The worst performer was Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX), which fell 3.31 or 3.38% to 94.60. Netflix shares leveled off one day after Recode reported that Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) will make the popular streaming service available on its X1 platform.
On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by a 1,924-1,061 margin.