Wednesday Afternoon Cheat Sheet: 3 Stories That Moved Markets

At 14,296.24, the Dow extended its record close higher on Wednesday, touching a new intraday high of 14,320.65.

At the close: DJIA: +0.30%, S&P 500: +0.11%, NASDAQ: -0.05%.

Here are three stories that helped shape the markets on Wednesday:

1) While congressional Republicans and Democrats could not could not cross party lines and work out a solution to avoid the automated $85 billion federal spending cuts known as the sequester, they did come together on Wednesday to avoid a complete government shutdown.

By a vote of 267 to 151, with most Republicans in support, the House of Representatives approved a stopgap measure that will extend the spending cuts that went into effect on March 1 and keep the government funded through the end of the current fiscal year. The Republican-sponsored bill provided $982 billion that will be necessary to keep federal agencies in action when the current funding mechanism expires on March 27.