Stocks rose on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average notching a fresh closing high, as strong quarterly earnings reports and continued economic optimism towards pandemic recovery uplifted investor sentiment.
Private payrolls rose by a less-than-expected 742,000 jobs in April, increasing by the most since September as the nation's vaccination campaign and easing public health restrictions continues to boost jobs recovery. This follows a revised raised of 565,000 jobs in March. Following current month-to-month trends, service providing sectors saw the most jobs growth, with sectors rising by 636,000 jobs.
Meanwhile, the IHS Markit U.S. services purchasing managers' index (PMI) came in above expectations at 64.7 for April. The ISM non-manufacturing index, however, came in slightly under expectations at 62.7 for the month. PMI readings above 50 represent expansion in the economic sector.
Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.07% or +2.93 points to 4,167.59
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.29% or +97.31 points to 34,230.34
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.37% or -51.08 points to 13,582.42
For Stocks, Peloton Interactive (NASDAQ: PTON) shares dropped more than 14% after the company and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced two separate voluntary recalls of the Peloton Tread+ and Tread treadmills. The announcement came after one child death and 70 safety incidents linked to the exercise machine. Shares of major COVID vaccine makers--Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA)--fell after the Biden administration announced that it supports waiving intellectual patent protections for COVID vaccines.
For Sector Performance, sectors on the S&P 500 ended the session mixed, with Energy (NYSE: XLE) and Materials (NYSE: XLB) leading gains, while Real Estate (NYSE: XLRE) and Utilities (NYSE: XLU) led losses.
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) ticked slightly higher in afternoon trade on Wednesday as U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen signalled that interest rates may need to rise. The dollar index was higher at 91.31 against six other global currencies. Gold (NYSE: GLD) prices rose on the flat dollar, but sour interest rate sentiment kept gains in check. Spot gold was up 0.25% in afternoon trade at $1,782.00 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures rose 0.4% to $1,783.00 per ounce. Crude oil futures slipped lower as tradings pulled back from a recent two day rally. International benchmark Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) was down at $68.83 per barrel, while domestic index West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) was 0.09% lower at $65.63 each.
For Thursday, market participants will turn their attention to fresh data for weekly unemployment numbers, as well as quarterly earnings reports for companies like Mondera (NASDAQ: MRNA) and ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIAC).