NEW YORK, New York – Technology stocks advanced on U.S. stock markets Wednesday, however, the industrials were limited to minor gains.

“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,” Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance said in a note to clients on Wednesday. “The Fed is going to need to raise rates higher, and hold them higher for longer, than people currently expect and this is going to cause markets to go through some significant volatility as stock and bond markets are priced for benign scenarios and not the more difficult one that we are headed towards.”

At the close of trading Wednesday, the Standard and Poor’s 500 was ahead by 11.47 points or 0.28 percent at 4,147.60.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 38.78 points or 0.11 percent to 34,128.05.

The Nasdaq Composite had a particularly strong day, rising by 110.45 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 12,070.59.

The U.S., dollar rallied hard on Wednesday. The euro dropped to 1.0688 at the U.S. close. The Swiss franc edged down to 0.9237. The Japanese yen was sharply lower at 134.09. The British pound fell to 1.2024.

The Canadian dollar fell to 1.3385. The Australian dollar took the elevator down to 0.6908, while the New Zealand dollar was unwanted at 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, while the CAC 40 in France advanced by 1.21 percent, adding 87.05 points to finish at 7,300.86. The German Dax125.78 points or 0.82 percent to close at 15,506.34.

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 20,812.17, while the KOSPI Composite Index in South Korea dropped by 1.53 percent, declining by 37.74 points to close at 2,427.90. The TSEC-weighted index in Taiwan also declined, falling by 1.42 percent, or 221.59 points, to close at 15,432.89.

In South America, the IBOVESPA in Brazil advanced by 1.62 percent, gaining 1,751.33 points to close at 109,600.14, while the IPC MEXICO in Mexico rose by 1.44 percent, adding 759.12 points to finish at 53,422.24.

Overall, 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, declining by 0.68 points to close at 18.23.