STOCKS BARELY BUDGE: Here's what you need to know

Bob Bryan

Aug 4, 2016, 01:30 IST

John Weast/Getty Images

Stocks across all three major averages barely budged Wednesday, making for an exceptionally quiet day on Wall Street.

Stocks inched into positive territory early in the day and pretty much stayed close to that level, with each average finishing the day up only a few hundredths of one percent. Oil, however, did retrace some of its recent losses by moving up a little under 4%.

While stocks were placid, there were a number of economic and business headlines. But first, the scoreboard:

Dow: 18,336.75 (+22.98, +0.16%)
S&P 500: 2,163.34 (+5.82, +0.27%)
Nasdaq: 5,157.12 (+19.17, +0.37%)
WTI Crude oil: $41.08 (+1.57, +3.97%)
10-year Treasury yield: 1.542 (+0.005, +0.33%)

Time Warner bought a 10% stake in online streaming service Hulu. The deal, which cost $580 million, valued the internet video company at roughly $6 billion.
Twitter's stock shot up on rumors that former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wants to buy the company. The stock jumped nearly 9% after a rumor that Ballmer and another Twitter investor, Prince Al-waleed Bin-Talal od Saudi Arabia, were interested in the social media firm.
Wal Mart is reportedly in talks to buy online retailer Jet.com. A story from the Wall Street Journal said that the mega-retailer could pay "as much as $3 billion" to buy Jet.com and bolster its online services.
Kate Spade reported worrying earnings. The retailer missed on quarterly profits and cut sales projections. Shares of the retailer fell nearly 20% after the news and their admission that one of the company's most important customer bases, tourists, is ditching the brand.
One of America's largest gunmakers got political. Following disappointing earnings, Sturm Ruger CEO Michael Fifer announced that the firm will donate $2 for every gun it sells until the election to the National Rifle Association. Fifer also went after Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during the firm's earnings call.
South Africans headed to the polls in the "most important elections" since Nelson Mandela was elected. The ruling African National Congress is showing signs of slipping, according to Business Insider's Elena Holodny, which means Wednesday's elections could reshape the country.
ADP Private payrolls increased by 179,000 jobs. The reading was higher than the 176,000 expected by economists.
The service sector continued to look strong. Both ISM non-manufacturing and Markit Services PMI stayed in expansionary territory for the month of July. ISM's 55.5 reading, however, was slightly lower than analysts' expectations of 56.0.