New York (AFP) – Wall Street stocks advanced Wednesday after better-than-expected jobs data soothed concerns about the US economy, with equity buyers stepping in following the prior session’s retreat. US private sector employment jumped 42,000 in October, ADP said, rebounding from a loss of 29,000 jobs in September, nearly double the amount forecasted by economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
The ADP figures are likely to attract renewed attention as it is one of the few economic indicators released in recent weeks amid the US government shutdown and will feed into investors’ perceptions of whether the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again in December. The Institute of Supply Management’s index of services industry activity—another rare data point—came in at 52.4 for October, better than the 50.9 level projected by analysts, which indicates growth.
Major US stocks opened little changed but picked up momentum as the day progressed. The broad-based S&P 500 finished up 0.4 percent. “It’s remarkable to me that the market has sort of stumbled the last couple of weeks, but every time we get the experts coming out talking about the beginning of a bear market, the buyers come back in the next day and lift it back up again,” said FHN Financial’s Chris Low.
Earlier in the day, the Nikkei sank 2.5 percent as the valuation concerns that plagued New York markets on Tuesday persisted into Tokyo’s trading day. Major European indices finished higher. Global stock markets have soared this year as an eye-watering flood of cash piled into companies linked to artificial intelligence, including US tech titans Nvidia, Amazon, and Apple, as well as Asian firms Samsung and Alibaba.
While there have been occasional pullbacks, investors have reliably stepped in to buy any dips in share prices. Besides valuation worries, the market is keeping an eye on the shutdown, which Wednesday became the longest ever, topping the 35-day record set during President Donald Trump’s first term in office. His administration warned of holiday air travel chaos and threatened Americans’ benefits in a bid to force a resolution. A total of 1.4 million federal workers, from air-traffic controllers to park wardens, are on enforced leave or working without pay.
Thanksgiving air travel is expected to set a new record this year, the American Automobile Association (AAA) projected—with 5.8 million people set to fly domestically over the November 27 holiday.
– Key figures at around 2115 GMT –
New York – Dow: UP 0.5 at 47,311.00 (close)
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.4 percent at 6,796.29 (close)
New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 23,499.80 (close)
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 9,777.08 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: UP less than 0.1 percent at 8,074.23 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.4 percent at 24,049.74
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 2.5 percent at 50,212.27 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.1 percent at 25,935.41 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,969.25 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1488 from $1.1482 on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3048 from $1.3021
Dollar/yen: UP at 154.13 yen from 153.67 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 88.4 pence from 88.18 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.4 percent at $63.52 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.6 percent at $59.62 per barrel
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© 2024 AFP
